Detector having a transversal optical sensor and a longitudinal optical sensor

ABSTRACT

A detector having a transversal optical sensor adapted to determine a transversal position of at least one light beam traveling from an object to the detector and a longitudinal optical sensor having at least one sensor region. The longitudinal optical sensor is designed to affect at least one longitudinal sensor signal in a manner dependent on an illumination of the sensor region by the light beam. The longitudinal sensor signal, given the same total power of the illumination, is dependent on a beam cross-section of the light beam in the sensor region.

REFERENCE TO PRIOR APPLICATIONS

This application is a Continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.14/132,570, filed Dec. 18, 2013, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,389,315; whichclaims priority to U.S. Provisional application Ser. No. 61/739,173,filed Dec. 19, 2012; U.S. Provisional application Ser. No. 61/749,964,filed Jan. 8, 2013; and U.S. Provisional application Ser. No.61/867,169, filed Aug. 19, 2013. All of the above applications areincorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a detector for determining a position of atleast one object. Furthermore, the invention relates to a human-machineinterface, an entertainment device, a tracking system and a camera.Furthermore, the invention relates to a method for optically detecting aposition of at least one object and to various uses of the detector.Such devices, methods and uses can be employed for example in variousareas of daily life, gaming, traffic technology, production technology,security technology, medical technology or in the sciences. Additionallyor alternatively, the application may be applied in the field of mappingof spaces, such as for generating maps of one or more rooms, one or morebuildings or one or more streets. However, other applications are alsopossible in principle.

PRIOR ART

A large number of optical sensors and photovoltaic devices are knownfrom the prior art. While photovoltaic devices are generally used toconvert electromagnetic radiation, for example, ultraviolet, visible orinfrared light, into electrical signals or electrical energy, opticaldetectors are generally used for picking up image information and/or fordetecting at least one optical parameter, for example, a brightness.

A large number of optical sensors which can be based generally on theuse of inorganic and/or organic sensor materials are known from theprior art. Examples of such sensors are disclosed in US 2007/0176165 A1,U.S. Pat. No. 6,995,445 B2, DE 2501124 A1, DE 3225372 A1 or else innumerous other prior art documents. To an increasing extent, inparticular for cost reasons and for reasons of large-area processing,sensors comprising at least one organic sensor material are being used,as described for example in US 2007/0176165 A1. In particular, so-calleddye solar cells are increasingly of importance here, which are describedgenerally, for example in WO 2009/013282 A1.

As a further example, WO 2013/144177 A1 discloses quinolinium dyeshaving a fluorinated counter anion, an electrode layer which comprises aporous film made of oxide semiconductor fine particles sensitized withthese kinds of quinolinium dyes having a fluorinated counter anion, aphotoelectric conversion device which comprises such a kind of electrodelayer, and a dye sensitized solar cell which comprises such aphotoelectric conversion device.

A large number of detectors for detecting at least one object are knownon the basis of such optical sensors. Such detectors can be embodied indiverse ways, depending on the respective purpose of use. Examples ofsuch detectors are imaging devices, for example, cameras and/ormicroscopes. High-resolution confocal microscopes are known, forexample, which can be used in particular in the field of medicaltechnology and biology in order to examine biological samples with highoptical resolution. Further examples of detectors for opticallydetecting at least one object are distance measuring devices based, forexample, on propagation time methods of corresponding optical signals,for example laser pulses. Further examples of detectors for opticallydetecting objects are triangulation systems, by means of which distancemeasurements can likewise be carried out.

Proceeding from such known detectors and methods for optically detectingobjects, it can be ascertained that in many cases a considerabletechnical outlay has to be implemented in order to carry out this objectdetection with sufficient precision.

By way of example, in microscopy a considerable outlay in respect ofapparatus is required in order to obtain correct focusing of a lightbeam and/or in order to obtain depth information about the sample to beimaged.

Another example for recording depth detection are active sensors whichusually function by emitting a signal and measuring reflections of thesignal caused by the at last one object. The active sensors have found awide dissemination, particularly in applications related to computervision. M. R. Andersen, T. Jensen, P. Lisouski, A. K. Mortensen, M. K.Hansen, T. Gregersen, and P. Ahrendt, Kinect Depth Sensor Evaluation forComputer Vision Applications, Technical report ECE-TR-6, 2012, Dept. ofEngineering, Aarhus University, Denmark, describe a depth sensor whichprojects an infrared (IR) point pattern onto at least one object andmeasures its reflection pattern by use of an IR camera. According totheir study, the authors could observe that this depth sensor required asettling time of approximately 30 seconds from the time the device waspowered until a reliable depth signal was acquired, in particular owingto a large amount of computing power being required for performing thiskind of procedure. Equivalently, a similar settling time could beobserved when the depth sensor was rotated and quickly pointed towards adifferent scene.

A further problem arises when more than one active sensor is employedfor acquiring depth information, particularly for extending ameasurement range. As soon as signals which originate from one or moredifferent or identical active sensors overlap, the origin of the signalsbecomes unidentifiable, so that in the region where the signals overlapno depth information can be recorded. A similar problem arises when twoor more active sensors point towards each other. Particularly, since themeasurement volume of an optical sensor can be described as anapproximate cone, a large measurement volume can only be covered by anumber of active sensors which, however, results in overlapping volumesand, thus, uncovered regions.

Distance measurements, by contrast, are based in many cases ontechnically inadequate assumptions such as, for example, the assumptionof a specific size of an object in an image evaluation. Other methodsare based in turn on complex pulse sequences, such as, for example,distance measurements by means of laser pulses. Yet other methods arebased on the use of a plurality of detectors such as, for example,triangulation methods.

In WO 2005/106965 A1, a setup of an organic solar cell is disclosed. Aphoto current is generated in response to incident light. Further, amethod for producing the organic solar cell is disclosed. Therein,reference is made to the fact that defects or traps may diminish theefficiency of the organic solar cell.

Various position detectors are known in the art. Thus, in JP 8-159714 A,a distance measurement device is disclosed. Therein, by using a detectorand a shadow-forming element, a distance between an object and thedetector is determined based on the fact that shadow formation ofobjects depends on the distance. In US 2008/0259310 A1, an opticalposition detector is disclosed. The position of a transmission system isdetermined by using a variety of known distances and measured angles. InUS 2005/0184301 A1, a distance measurement device is disclosed. Themeasurement device makes use of a plurality of light-emitting diodeshaving different wavelengths. In CN 101650173 A, a position detector isdisclosed which is based on the use of geometric principles. Further, inJP 10-221064 A, a complex optical setup is disclosed which is similar tooptical setups used in holography.

In U.S. Pat. No. 4,767,211, a device and a method for opticalmeasurement and imaging are disclosed. Therein, a ratio of reflectedlight traveling along an optical axis and reflected light travelingoff-axis is determined by using different photo-detectors and a divider.By using this principal, depressions in a sample may be detected.

In U.S. Pat. No. 4,647,193, a range of a target object is determined byusing a detector having multiple components. The detector is placed awayfrom a focal plane of a lens. The size of a light spot of light from theobject varies with the range of the object and, thus, is dependent onthe range of the object. By using different photo-detectors, the size ofthe light spot and, thus, the range of the object may be determined bycomparing signals generated by the photo-detectors.

In U.S. Pat. No. 6,995,445 and US 2007/0176165 A1, a position sensitiveorganic detector is disclosed. Therein, a resistive bottom electrode, isused which is electrically contacted by using at least two electricalcontacts. By forming a current ratio of the currents from the electriccontacts, a position of a light spot on the organic detector may bedetected.

In US 2007/0080925 A1, a low power consumption display device isdisclosed. Therein, photoactive layers are utilized which both respondto electrical energy to allow a display device to display informationand which generate electrical energy in response to incident radiation.Display pixels of a single display device may be divided into displayingand generating pixels. The displaying pixels may display information andthe generating pixels may generate electrical energy. The generatedelectrical energy may be used to provide power to drive an image.

U.S. provisional applications 61/739,173, filed on Dec. 19, 2012, and61/749,964, filed on Jan. 8, 2013, the full content of which is herewithincluded by reference, disclose a method and a detector for determininga position of at least one object, by using at least one transversaloptical sensor and at least one optical sensor. Specifically, the use ofsensor stacks is disclosed, in order to determine a longitudinalposition of the object with a high degree of accuracy and withoutambiguity.

European patent application number EP 13171898.3, filed on Jun. 13,2013, the full content of which is herewith included by reference,discloses an optical detector comprising an optical sensor having asubstrate and at least one photosensitive layer setup disposed thereon.The photosensitive layer setup has at least one first electrode at leastone second electrode and at least one photovoltaic material sandwichedin between the first electrode and the second electrode. Thephotovoltaic material comprises at least one organic material. The firstelectrode comprises a plurality of first electrode stripes, and thesecond electrode comprises a plurality of second electrode stripes,wherein the first electrode stripes and the second electrode stripesintersect such that a matrix of pixels is formed at intersections of thefirst electrode stripes and the second electrode stripes. The opticaldetector further comprises at least one readout device, the readoutdevice comprising a plurality of electrical measurement devices beingconnected to the second electrode stripes and a switching device forsubsequently connecting the first electrode stripes to the electricalmeasurement devices.

European patent application number EP 13171900.7, also filed on Jun. 13,2013, the full content of which is herewith included by reference,discloses a detector device for determining an orientation of at leastone object, comprising at least two beacon devices being adapted to beat least one of attached to the object, held by the object andintegrated into the object, the beacon devices each being adapted todirect light beams towards a detector, and the beacon devices havingpredetermined coordinates in a coordinate system of the object. Thedetector device further comprises at least one detector adapted todetect the light beams traveling from the beacon devices towards thedetector and at least one evaluation device, the evaluation device beingadapted to determine longitudinal coordinates of each of the beacondevices in a coordinate system of the detector. The evaluation device isfurther adapted to determine an orientation of the object in thecoordinate system of the detector by using the longitudinal coordinatesof the beacon devices.

European patent application number EP 13171901.5, filed on Jun. 13,2013, the full content of which is herewith included by reference,discloses a detector for determining a position of at least one object.The detector comprises at least one optical sensor being adapted todetect a light beam traveling from the object towards the detector, theoptical sensor having at least one matrix of pixels. The detectorfurther comprises at least one evaluation device, the evaluation devicebeing adapted to determine a number N of pixels of the optical sensorwhich are illuminated by the light beam. The evaluation device isfurther adapted to determine at least one longitudinal coordinate of theobject by using the number N of pixels which are illuminated by thelight beam.

In WO 2012/110924 A1, on which the present invention is based and thecontent of which is herewith included by reference, a detector foroptically detecting at least one object is proposed. The detectorcomprises at least one optical sensor. The optical sensor has at leastone sensor region. The optical sensor is designed to generate at leastone sensor signal in a manner dependent on an illumination of the sensorregion. The sensor signal, given the same total power of theillumination, is dependent on a geometry of the illumination, inparticular on a beam cross section of the illumination on the sensorarea. The detector furthermore has at least one evaluation device. Theevaluation device is designed to generate at least one item ofgeometrical information from the sensor signal, in particular at leastone item of geometrical information about the illumination and/or theobject.

Despite the advantages implied by the above-mentioned devices anddetectors specifically by the detector disclosed in WO 2012/110924 A1,there still is a need for a simple, cost-efficient and, still, reliablespatial detector. Thus, an improved spatial resolution of an object inconjunction with the possibility of tracking the object in space isdesirable.

Problem Addressed by the Invention

Therefore, a problem addressed by the present invention is that ofspecifying devices and methods for optically detecting at least oneobject which at least substantially avoid the disadvantages of knowndevices and methods of this type. In particular, an improved detectorfor determining the position of an object in space and, preferably, forreliably tracking the object in space is desirable.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This problem is solved by the invention with the features of theindependent patent claims. Advantageous developments of the invention,which can be realized individually or in combination, are presented inthe dependent claims and/or in the following specification and detailedembodiments.

As used herein, the expressions “have”, “comprise” and “contain” as wellas grammatical variations thereof are used in a non-exclusive way. Thus,the expression “A has B” as well as the expression “A comprises B” or “Acontains B” may both refer to the fact that, besides B, A contains oneor more further components and/or constituents, and to the case inwhich, besides B, no other components, constituents or elements arepresent in A.

In a first aspect of the present invention, a detector for determining aposition of at least one object is disclosed.

The object generally may be an arbitrary object, chosen from a livingobject and a non-living object. Thus, as an example, the at least oneobject may comprise one or more articles and/or one or more parts of anarticle. Additionally or alternatively, the object may be or maycomprise one or more living beings and/or one or more parts thereof,such as one or more body parts of a human being, e.g. a user, and/or ananimal.

As used herein, a position generally refers to an arbitrary item ofinformation on a location and/or orientation of the object in space. Forthis purpose, as an example, one or more coordinate systems may be used,and the position of the object may be determined by using one, two,three or more coordinates. As an example, one or more Cartesiancoordinate systems and/or other types of coordinate systems may be used.In one example, the coordinate system may be a coordinate system of thedetector in which the detector has a predetermined position and/ororientation. As will be outlined in further detail below, the detectormay have an optical axis, which may constitute a main direction of viewof the detector. The optical axis may form an axis of the coordinatesystem, such as a z-axis. Further, one or more additional axes may beprovided, preferably perpendicular to the z-axis.

Thus, as an example, the detector may constitute a coordinate system inwhich the optical axis forms the z-axis and in which, additionally, anx-axis and a y-axis may be provided which are perpendicular to thez-axis and which are perpendicular to each other. As an example, thedetector and/or a part of the detector may rest at a specific point inthis coordinate system, such as at the origin of this coordinate system.In this coordinate system, a direction parallel or antiparallel to thez-axis may be regarded as a longitudinal direction, and a coordinatealong the z-axis may be considered a longitudinal coordinate. Anarbitrary direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction may beconsidered a transversal direction, and an x- and/or y-coordinate may beconsidered a transversal coordinate.

Alternatively, other types of coordinate systems may be used. Thus, asan example, a polar coordinate system may be used in which the opticalaxis forms a z-axis and in which a distance from the z-axis and a polarangle may be used as additional coordinates. Again, a direction parallelor antiparallel to the z-axis may be considered a longitudinaldirection, and a coordinate along the z-axis may be considered alongitudinal coordinate. Any direction perpendicular to the z-axis maybe considered a transversal direction, and the polar coordinate and/orthe polar angle may be considered a transversal coordinate.

As used herein, a detector for determining a position of at least oneobject generally is a device adapted for providing at least one item ofinformation on the position of the at least one object. The detector maybe a stationary device or a mobile device. Further, the detector may bea stand-alone device or may form part of another device, such as acomputer, a vehicle or any other device. Further, the detector may be ahand-held device. Other embodiments of the detector are feasible.

The detector may be adapted to provide the at least one item ofinformation on the position of the at least one object in any feasibleway. Thus, the information may e.g. be provided electronically,visually, acoustically or in any arbitrary combination thereof. Theinformation may further be stored in a data storage of the detector or aseparate device and/or may be provided via at least one interface, suchas a wireless interface and/or a wire-bound interface.

The detector comprises:

-   -   at least one transversal optical sensor, the transversal optical        sensor being adapted to determine a transversal position of at        least one light beam traveling from the object to the detector,        the transversal position being a position in at least one        dimension perpendicular an optical axis of the detector, the        transversal optical sensor being adapted to generate at least        one transversal sensor signal;    -   at least one longitudinal optical sensor, wherein the        longitudinal optical sensor has at least one sensor region,        wherein the longitudinal optical sensor is designed to generate        at least one longitudinal sensor signal in a manner dependent on        an illumination of the sensor region by the light beam, wherein        the longitudinal sensor signal, given the same total power of        the illumination, is dependent on a beam cross-section of the        light beam in the sensor region;    -   at least one evaluation device, wherein the evaluation device is        designed to generate at least one item of information on a        transversal position of the object by evaluating the transversal        sensor signal and to generate at least one item of information        on a longitudinal position of the object by evaluating the        longitudinal sensor signal.

As will be outlined in further detail below, the components listed abovemay be separate components. Alternatively, two or more of the componentslisted above may be integrated into one component. Thus, the at leastone transversal optical sensor and the at least one longitudinal opticalsensor may at least partially be integrated into one optical sensor.Alternatively, at least one longitudinal optical sensor may be providedwhich is separate from at least one transversal optical sensor. Further,the at least one evaluation device may be formed as a separateevaluation device independent from the at least one transversal opticalsensor and the at least one longitudinal optical sensor, but maypreferably be connected to the at least one transversal optical sensorand the at least one longitudinal optical sensor in order to receive thetransversal sensor signal and the longitudinal sensor signal.Alternatively, the at least one evaluation device may fully or partiallybe integrated into the at least one transversal optical sensor and/orthe at least one longitudinal optical sensor.

As used herein, the term transversal optical sensor generally refers toa device which is adapted to determine a transversal position of atleast one light beam traveling from the object to the detector. Withregard to the term transversal position, reference may be made to thedefinition given above. Thus, preferably, the transversal position maybe or may comprise at least one coordinate in at least one dimensionperpendicular to an optical axis of the detector. As an example, thetransversal position may be a position of a light spot generated by thelight beam in a plane perpendicular to the optical axis, such as on alight-sensitive sensor surface of the transversal optical sensor. As anexample, the position in the plane may be given in Cartesian coordinatesand/or polar coordinates. Other embodiments are feasible.

For potential embodiments of the transversal optical sensor, referencemay be made to the position sensitive organic detector as disclosed inU.S. Pat. No. 6,995,445 and US 2007/0176165 A1. However, otherembodiments are feasible and will be outlined in further detail below.

The at least one transversal sensor signal generally may be an arbitrarysignal indicative of the transversal position. As an example, thetransversal sensor signal may be or may comprise a digital and/or ananalog signal. As an example, the transversal sensor signal may be ormay comprise a voltage signal and/or a current signal. Additionally oralternatively, the transversal sensor signal may be or may comprisedigital data. The transversal sensor signal may comprise a single signalvalue and/or a series of signal values. The transversal sensor signalmay further comprise an arbitrary signal which is derived by combiningtwo or more individual signals, such as by averaging two or more signalsand/or by forming a quotient of two or more signals, as will be outlinedin further detail below.

As used herein, a longitudinal optical sensor generally is a devicewhich is designed to generate at least one longitudinal sensor signal ina manner dependent on an illumination of the sensor region by the lightbeam, wherein the longitudinal sensor signal, given the same total powerof the illumination, is dependent on a beam cross-section of the lightbeam in the sensor region. For potential embodiments of the longitudinaloptical sensor, reference may be made to the optical sensor as disclosedin WO 2012/110924 A1. Preferably, however, as will be outlined infurther detail below, the detector according to the present inventioncomprises a plurality of optical sensors, such as a plurality of opticalsensors as disclosed in WO 2012/110924 A1, preferably as a sensor stack.

Thus, as an example, the detector according to the present invention maycomprise a stack of optical sensors as disclosed in WO 2012/110924 A1,in combination with one or more transversal optical sensors. As anexample, one or more transversal optical sensors may be disposed on aside of the stack of longitudinal optical sensors facing towards theobject. Alternatively or additionally, one or more transversal opticalsensors may be disposed on a side of the stack of longitudinal opticalsensors facing away from the object. Again, additionally oralternatively, one or more transversal article sensors may be interposedin between the longitudinal optical sensors of the stack.

As will further be outlined below, preferably, both the at least onetransversal optical sensor longitudinal optical sensor and the at leastone longitudinal optical sensor may comprise one or more photodetectors, preferably one or more organic photodetectors and, mostpreferably, one or more dye-sensitized organic solar cells (DSCs, alsoreferred to as dye solar cells), such as one or more soliddye-sensitized organic solar cells (s-DSCs). Thus, preferably, thedetector may comprise one or more DSCs (such as one or more sDSCs)acting as the at least one transversal optical sensor and one or moreDSCs (such as one or more sDSCs) acting as the at least one longitudinaloptical sensor, preferably a stack of a plurality of DSCs (preferably astack of a plurality of sDSCs) acting as the at least one longitudinaloptical sensor.

As used herein, the term evaluation device generally refers to anarbitrary device designed to generate the at least one item ofinformation on the transversal position of the object and thelongitudinal position of the object. As an example, the evaluationdevice may be or may comprise one or more integrated circuits, such asone or more application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), and/or oneor more data processing devices, such as one or more computers,preferably one or more microcomputers and/or microcontrollers.Additional components may be comprised, such as one or morepreprocessing devices and/or data acquisition devices, such as one ormore devices for receiving and/or preprocessing of the transversalsensor signal and/or the longitudinal sensor signal, such as one or moreAD-converters and/or one or more filters. Further, the evaluation devicemay comprise one or more data storage devices. Further, as outlinedabove, the evaluation device may comprise one or more interfaces, suchas one or more wireless interfaces and/or one or more wire-boundinterfaces.

The at least one evaluation device may be adapted to perform at leastone computer program, such as at least one computer program performingor supporting the step of generating the at least one item ofinformation on the transversal position and/or the step of generatingthe at least one item of information on the longitudinal position. As anexample, one or more algorithms may be implemented which, by using thetransversal sensor signal and/or the longitudinal sensor signal as inputvariables, may perform a predetermined transformation into thetransversal position and/or the longitudinal position of the object.

As outlined above, preferably, the transversal optical sensor is a photodetector having at least one first electrode, at least one secondelectrode and at least one photovoltaic material, wherein thephotovoltaic material is embedded in between the first electrode and thesecond electrode. As used herein, a photovoltaic material generally is amaterial or combination of materials adapted to generate electriccharges in response to an illumination of the photovoltaic material withlight.

As used herein, the term light generally refers to electromagneticradiation in one or more of the visible spectral range, the ultravioletspectral range and the infrared spectral range. Therein, the termvisible spectral range generally refers to a spectral range of 380 nm to780 nm. The term infrared (IR) spectral range generally refers toelectromagnetic radiation in the range of 780 nm to 1000 μm, preferablyin the range of 780 nm to 3.0 μm. The term ultraviolet spectral rangegenerally refers to electromagnetic radiation in the range of 1 nm to380 nm, preferably in the range of 100 nm to 380 nm. Preferably, lightas used within the present invention is visible light, i.e. light in thevisible spectral range.

The term light beam generally refers to an amount of light emitted intoa specific direction. Thus, the light beam may be a bundle of the lightrays having a predetermined extension in a direction perpendicular to adirection of propagation of the light beam. Preferably, the light beammay be or may comprise one or more Gaussian light beams which may becharacterized by one or more Gaussian beam parameters, such as one ormore of a beam waist, a Rayleigh-length or any other beam parameter orcombination of beam parameters suited to characterize a development of abeam diameter and/or a beam propagation in space.

Preferably, the second electrode of the transversal optical sensor maybe a split electrode having at least two partial electrodes, wherein thetransversal optical sensor has a sensor area, wherein the at least onetransversal sensor signal indicates a position of the light beam in thesensor area. Thus, as outlined above, the transversal optical sensor maybe or may comprise one or more photo detectors, preferably one or moreorganic photo detectors, more preferably one or more DSCs or sDSCs. Thesensor area may be a surface of the photo detector facing towards theobject. The sensor area preferably may be oriented perpendicular to theoptical axis. Thus, the transversal sensor signal may indicate aposition of a light spot generated by the light beam in a plane of thesensor area of the transversal optical sensor.

Generally, as used herein, the term partial electrode refers to anelectrode out of a plurality of electrodes, adapted for measuring atleast one current and/or voltage signal, preferably independent fromother partial electrodes. Thus, in case a plurality of partialelectrodes is provided, the second electrode is adapted to provide aplurality of electric potentials and/or electric currents and/orvoltages via the at least two partial electrodes, which may be measuredand/or used independently.

When using at least one transversal optical sensor having at least onesplit electrode having two or more partial electrodes as a secondelectrode, currents through the partial electrodes may be dependent on aposition of the light beam in the sensor area. This may generally be dueto the fact that Ohmic losses or resistive losses may occur on the wayfrom a location of generation of electrical charges due to the impinginglight to the partial electrodes. Thus, besides the partial electrodes,the second electrode may comprise one or more additional electrodematerials connected to the partial electrodes, wherein the one or moreadditional electrode materials provide an electrical resistance. Thus,due to the Ohmic losses on the way from the location of generation ofthe electric charges to the partial electrodes through with the one ormore additional electrode materials, the currents through the partialelectrodes depend on the location of the generation of the electriccharges and, thus, to the position of the light beam in the sensor area.For details of this principle of determining the position of the lightbeam in the sensor area, reference may be made to the preferredembodiments below and/or to the physical principles and device optionsas disclosed e.g. in U.S. Pat. No. 6,995,445 and/or US 2007/0176165 A1.

The transversal optical sensor may further be adapted to generate thetransversal sensor signal in accordance with the electrical currentsthrough the partial electrodes. Thus, a ratio of electric currentsthrough two horizontal partial electrodes may be formed, therebygenerating an x-coordinate, and/or a ratio of electric currents throughto vertical partial electrodes may be formed, thereby generating ay-coordinate. The detector, preferably the transversal optical sensorand/or the evaluation device, may be adapted to derive the informationon the transversal position of the object from at least one ratio of thecurrents through the partial electrodes. Other ways of generatingposition coordinates by comparing currents through the partialelectrodes are feasible.

The partial electrodes generally may be defined in various ways, inorder to determine a position of the light beam in the sensor area.Thus, two or more horizontal partial electrodes may be provided in orderto determine a horizontal coordinate or x-coordinate, and two or morevertical partial electrodes may be provided in order to determine avertical coordinate or y-coordinate. Thus, the partial electrodes may beprovided at a rim of the sensor area, wherein an interior space of thesensor area remains free and may be covered by one or more additionalelectrode materials. As will be outlined in further detail below, theadditional electrode material preferably may be a transparent additionalelectrode material, such as a transparent metal and/or a transparentconductive oxide and/or, most preferably, a transparent conductivepolymer.

Further preferred embodiments may refer to the photovoltaic material.Thus, the photovoltaic material of the transversal optical sensor maycomprise at least one organic photovoltaic material. Thus, generally,the transversal optical sensor may be an organic photo detector.Preferably, the organic photo detector may be a dye-sensitized solarcell. The dye-sensitized solar cell preferably may be a soliddye-sensitized solar cell, comprising a layer setup embedded in betweenthe first electrode and the second electrode, the layer setup comprisingat least one n-semiconducting metal oxide, at least one dye, and atleast one solid p-semiconducting organic material. Further details andoptional embodiments of the dye-sensitized solar cell (DSC) will bedisclosed below.

The at least one first electrode of the transversal optical sensorpreferably is transparent. As used in the present invention, the termtransparent generally refers to the fact that the intensity of lightafter transmission through the transparent object equals to or exceeds10%, preferably 40% and, more preferably, 60% of the intensity of lightbefore transmission through the transparent object. More preferably, theat least one first electrode of the transversal optical sensor may fullyor partially be made of at least one transparent conductive oxide (TCO).As an example, indium-doped tin oxide (ITO) and/or fluorine-doped tinoxide (FTO) may be named. Further examples will be given below.

Further, the at least one second electrode of the transversal opticalsensor preferably may fully or partially be transparent. Thus,specifically, the at least one second electrode may comprise two or morepartial electrodes and at least one additional electrode materialcontacting the two or more partial electrodes. The two or more partialelectrodes may be intransparent. As an example, the two or more partialelectrodes may fully or partially be made of a metal. Thus, the two ormore partial electrodes preferably are located at a rim of the sensorarea. The two or more partial electrodes, however, may electrically beconnected by the at least one additional electrode material which,preferably, is transparent. Thus, the second electrode may comprise anintransparent rim having the two or more partial electrodes and atransparent inner area having the at least one transparent additionalelectrode material. More preferably, the at least one second electrodeof the transversal optical sensor, such as the above-mentioned at leastone additional electrode material, may fully or partially be made of atleast one conductive polymer, preferably a transparent conductivepolymer. As an example, conductive polymers having an electricalconductivity of at least 0.01 S/cm may be used, preferably of at least0.1 S/cm or, more preferably, of at least 1 S/cm or even at least 10S/cm or at least 100 S/cm. As an example, the at least one conductivepolymer may be selected from the group consisting of apoly-3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (PEDOT), preferably PEDOT beingelectrically doped with at least one counter ion, more preferably PEDOTdoped with sodium polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS); a polyaniline(PANI); a polythiophene.

As outlined above, the conductive polymer may provide an electricalconnection between the at least two partial electrodes. The conductivepolymer may provide an Ohmic resistivity, allowing for determining theposition of charge generation. Preferably, the conductive polymerprovides an electric resistivity of 0.1-20 kΩ between the partialelectrodes, preferably an electric resistivity of 0.5-5.0 kΩ and, morepreferably, an electric resistivity of 1.0-3.0 kΩ.

Generally, as used herein, a conductive material may be a material whichhave a specific electrical resistance of less than 10⁴, less than 10³,less than 10², or of less than 10 Ωm. Preferably, the conductivematerial has a specific electrical resistance of less than 10⁻¹, lessthan 10⁻², less than 10⁻³, less than 10⁻⁵, or less than 10⁻⁶ Ωm. Mostpreferably, the specific electrical resistance of the conductivematerial is less than 5×10⁻⁷ Ωm or is less than

1×10⁻⁷ Ωm, particularly in the range of the specific electricalresistance of aluminum.

As outlined above, preferably, at least one of the transversal opticalsensor and the longitudinal optical sensor is a transparent opticalsensor. Thus, the at least one transversal optical sensor may be atransparent transversal optical sensor and/or may comprise at least onetransparent transversal optical sensor. Additionally or alternatively,the at least one longitudinal optical sensor may be a transparentlongitudinal optical sensor and/or may comprise at least one transparentlongitudinal optical sensor. In case a plurality of longitudinal opticalsensors is provided, such as a stack of longitudinal optical sensors,preferably all longitudinal optical sensors of the plurality and/or thestack or all longitudinal optical sensors of the plurality and/or thestack but one longitudinal optical sensor are transparent. As anexample, in case a stack of longitudinal optical sensors is provided,wherein the longitudinal optical sensors are arranged along the opticalaxis of the detector, preferably all longitudinal optical sensors butthe last longitudinal optical sensor facing away from the object may betransparent longitudinal optical sensors. The last longitudinal opticalsensor, i.e. the longitudinal optical sensor on the side of the stackfacing away from the object, may be a transparent longitudinal opticalsensor or an intransparent longitudinal optical sensor. Exemplaryembodiments will be given below.

In case one of the transversal optical sensor and the longitudinaloptical sensor is a transparent optical sensor or comprises at least onetransparent optical sensor, the light beam may pass through thetransparent optical sensor before impinging on the other one of thetransversal optical sensor and the longitudinal optical sensor. Thus,the light beam from the object may subsequently reach the transversaloptical sensor and the longitudinal optical sensor or vice versa.

Further embodiments refer to the relationship between the transversaloptical sensor and the longitudinal optical sensor. Thus, in principle,the transversal optical sensor and the longitudinal optical sensor atleast partially may be identical, as outlined above. Preferably,however, the transversal optical sensor and the longitudinal opticalsensor at least partially may be independent optical sensors, such asindependent photo detectors and, more preferably, independent DSCs orsDSCs.

As outlined above, the transversal optical sensor and the longitudinaloptical sensor preferably may be stacked along the optical axis. Thus, alight beam travelling along the optical axis may both impinge on thetransversal optical sensor and on the longitudinal optical sensor,preferably subsequently. Thus, the light beam may subsequently passthrough the transversal optical sensor and the longitudinal opticalsensor or vice versa.

Further embodiments of the present invention referred to the nature ofthe light beam which propagates from the object to the detector. Thelight beam might be admitted by the object itself, i.e. might originatefrom the object. Additionally or alternatively, another origin of thelight beam is feasible. Thus, as will be outlined in further detailbelow, one or more illumination sources might be provided whichilluminate the object, such as by using one or more primary rays orbeams, such as one or more primary rays or beams having a predeterminedcharacteristic. In the latter case, the light beam propagating from theobject to the detector might be a light beam which is reflected by theobject and/or a reflection device connected to the object.

As outlined above, the at least one longitudinal sensor signal, giventhe same total power of the illumination by the light beam, is dependenton a beam cross-section of the light beam in the sensor region of the atleast one longitudinal optical sensor. As used herein, the term beamcross-section generally refers to a lateral extension of the light beamor a light spot generated by the light beam at a specific location. Incase a circular light spot is generated, a radius, a diameter or aGaussian beam waist or twice the Gaussian beam waist may function as ameasure of the beam cross-section. In case non-circular light-spots aregenerated, the cross-section may be determined in any other feasibleway, such as by determining the cross-section of a circle having thesame area as the non-circular light spot, which is also referred to asthe equivalent beam cross-section.

Thus, given the same total power of the illumination of the sensorregion by the light beam, a light beam having a first beam diameter orbeam cross-section may generate a first longitudinal sensor signal,whereas a light beam having a second beam diameter or beam-cross sectionbeing different from the first beam diameter or beam cross-sectiongenerates a second longitudinal sensor signal being different from thefirst longitudinal sensor signal. Thus, by comparing the longitudinalsensor signals, an information or at least one item of information onthe beam cross-section, specifically on the beam diameter, may begenerated. For details of this effect, reference may be made to WO2012/110924 A1. Specifically in case one or more beam properties of thelight beam propagating from the object to the detector are known, the atleast one item of information on the longitudinal position of the objectmay thus be derived from a known relationship between the at least onelongitudinal sensor signal and a longitudinal position of the object.The known relationship may be stored in the evaluation device as analgorithm and/or as one or more calibration curves. As an example,specifically for Gaussian beams, a relationship between a beam diameteror beam waist and a position of the object may easily be derived byusing the Gaussian relationship between the beam waist and alongitudinal coordinate.

The above-mentioned effect, which is also referred to as the FiP-effect(alluding to the effect that the beam cross section ϕ influences theelectric power P generated by the longitudinal optical sensor) maydepend on or may be emphasized by an appropriate modulation of the lightbeam, as disclosed in WO 2012/110924 A1. Thus, preferably, the detectormay furthermore have at least one modulation device for modulating theillumination. The detector may be designed to detect at least twolongitudinal sensor signals in the case of different modulations, inparticular at least two sensor signals at respectively differentmodulation frequencies. In this case, the evaluation device may bedesigned to generate the at least one item of information on thelongitudinal position of the object by evaluating the at least twolongitudinal sensor signals.

Generally, the longitudinal optical sensor may be designed in such a waythat the at least one longitudinal sensor signal, given the same totalpower of the illumination, is dependent on a modulation frequency of amodulation of the illumination. Further details and exemplaryembodiments will be given below. This property of frequency dependencyis specifically provided in DSCs and, more preferably, in sDSCs.However, other types of optical sensors, preferably photo detectors and,more preferably, organic photo detectors may exhibit this effect.

Preferably, the transversal optical sensor and the longitudinal opticalsensor both are thin film devices, having a layer setup of layerincluding electrode and photovoltaic material, the layer setup having athickness of preferably no more than 1 mm, more preferably of at most500 μm or even less. Thus, the sensor region of the transversal opticalsensor and/or the sensor region of the longitudinal optical sensorpreferably each may be or may comprise a sensor area, which may beformed by a surface of the respective device, wherein the surface mayface towards the object or may face away from the object. Hereby, it mayfurther be feasible to arrange the at least one transversal opticalsensor and the at least one longitudinal optical sensor in a way thatsome surfaces comprising the sensor regions may face towards the objectwhere other surfaces may face away from the object. Such a kind ofarrangement of the respective devices, which might be helpful tooptimize the path of the light beam through the stack and/or to reducereflections within the light path, may, for any reason or purpose, beimplemented in an alternating manner, such as with one, two, three ormore devices where the sensor regions may face towards the objectalternating with one, two, three or more other devices where the sensorregions may face away from the object.

Preferably, the sensor region of the transversal optical sensor and/orthe sensor region of the longitudinal optical sensor may be formed byone continuous sensor region, such as one continuous sensor area orsensor surface per device. Thus, preferably, the sensor region of thelongitudinal optical sensor or, in case a plurality of longitudinaloptical sensors is provided (such as a stack of longitudinal opticalsensors), each sensor region off the longitudinal optical sensor, may beformed by exactly one continuous sensor region. The longitudinal sensorsignal preferably is a uniform sensor signal for the entire sensorregion of the longitudinal optical sensor or, in case a plurality oflongitudinal optical sensors is provided, is a uniform sensor signal foreach sensor region of each longitudinal optical sensor.

The at least one transversal optical sensor and/or the at least onelongitudinal optical sensor each, independently, may have a sensorregion providing a sensitive area, also referred to as a sensor area, ofat least 1 mm², preferably of at least 5 mm², such as a sensor area of 5mm² to 1000 cm², preferably a sensor area of 7 mm² to 100 cm², morepreferably a sensor area of 1 cm². The sensor area preferably has arectangular geometry, such as a square geometry. However, othergeometries and/or sensor areas are feasible.

The longitudinal sensor signal preferably may be selected from the groupconsisting of a current (such as a photocurrent) and a voltage (such asa photo voltage). Similarly, the transversal sensor signal preferablymay be selected from the group consisting of a current (such as aphotocurrent) and a voltage (such as a photo voltage) or any signalderived thereof, such as a quotient of currents and/or voltages.Further, longitudinal sensor signal and/or the transversal sensor signalmay be preprocessed, in order to derive refined sensor signals from rawsensor signals, such as by averaging and/or filtering.

Generally, the longitudinal optical sensor may comprise at least onesemiconductor detector, in particular an organic semiconductor detectorcomprising at least one organic material, preferably an organic solarcell and particularly preferably a dye solar cell or dye-sensitizedsolar cell, in particular a solid dye solar cell or a soliddye-sensitized solar cell. Preferably, the longitudinal optical sensoris or comprises a DSC or sDSC. Thus, preferably, the longitudinaloptical sensor comprises at least one first electrode, at least onen-semiconducting metal oxide, at least one dye, at least onep-semiconducting organic material, preferably a solid p-semiconductingorganic material, and at least one second electrode. In a preferredembodiment, the longitudinal optical sensor comprises at least one DSCor, more preferably, at least one sDSC. As outlined above, preferably,the at least one longitudinal optical sensor is a transparentlongitudinal optical sensor or comprises at least one transparentlongitudinal optical sensor. Thus, preferably, both the first electrodeand the second electrode are transparent or, in case a plurality oflongitudinal optical sensors is provided, at least one of thelongitudinal optical sensors is designed such that both the firstelectrode and the second electrode are transparent.

As outlined above, in case a stack of longitudinal optical sensors isprovided, preferably some or even all longitudinal optical sensors ofthe stack are transparent but the last longitudinal optical sensor ofthe stack. The last longitudinal optical sensor of the stack, i.e. thelongitudinal optical sensor of the stack furthest away from the object,may be transparent or intransparent. The stack may, besides the at leastone transversal optical sensor and the at least one longitudinal opticalsensor, comprise one or more further optical sensors which may functionas one or more of a transversal optical sensor, a longitudinal opticalsensor (also referred to as an imaging device) and an imaging sensor.

Thus, it may be possible to locate an imaging device in the optical pathof the light beam in a manner that the light beam travels through thestack of the transparent longitudinal optical sensors until it impingeson the imaging device.

Thus, generally, the detector may further comprise at least one imagingdevice, i.e. a device capable of acquiring at least one image. Theimaging device can be embodied in various ways. Thus, the imaging devicecan be for example part of the detector in a detector housing.Alternatively or additionally, however, the imaging device can also bearranged outside the detector housing, for example as a separate imagingdevice. Alternatively or additionally, the imaging device can also beconnected to the detector or even be part of the detector. In apreferred arrangement, the stack of the transparent longitudinal opticalsensors and the imaging device are aligned along a common optical axisalong which the light beam travels. However, other arrangements arepossible.

In addition, the detector may comprise at least one transfer device,such as an optical lens, which will be described later in more detail,and which may further be arranged along the common optical axis. By wayof example, the light beam which emerges from the object may in thiscase travel first through the at least one transfer device andthereafter through the stack of the transparent longitudinal opticalsensors until it finally impinges on the imaging device.

As used herein, an imaging device is generally understood as a devicewhich can generate a one-dimensional, a two-dimensional, or athree-dimensional image of the object or of a part thereof. Inparticular, the detector, with or without the at least one optionalimaging device, can be completely or partly used as a camera, such as anIR camera, or an RGB camera, i.e. a camera which is designed to deliverthree basic colors which are designated as red, green, and blue, onthree separate connections.

Thus, as an example, the at least one imaging device may be or maycomprise at least one imaging device selected from the group consistingof: a pixelated organic camera element, preferably a pixelated organiccamera chip; a pixelated inorganic camera element, preferably apixelated inorganic camera chip, more preferably a CCD- or CMOS-chip; amonochrome camera element, preferably a monochrome camera chip; amulticolor camera element, preferably a multicolor camera chip; afull-color camera element, preferably a full-color camera chip. Theimaging device may be or may comprise at least one device selected fromthe group consisting of a monochrome imaging device, a multi-chromeimaging device and at least one full color imaging device. Amulti-chrome imaging device and/or a full color imaging device may begenerated by using filter techniques and/or by using intrinsic colorsensitivity or other techniques, as the skilled person will recognize.Other embodiments of the imaging device are also possible.

The imaging device may be designed to image a plurality of partialregions of the object successively and/or simultaneously. By way ofexample, a partial region of the object can be a one-dimensional, atwo-dimensional, or a three-dimensional region of the object which isdelimited for example by a resolution limit of the imaging device andfrom which electromagnetic radiation emerges. In this context, imagingshould be understood to mean that the electromagnetic radiation whichemerges from the respective partial region of the object is fed into theimaging device, for example by means of the at least one optionaltransfer device of the detector. The electromagnetic rays can begenerated by the object itself, for example in the form of a luminescentradiation. Alternatively or additionally, the at least one detector maycomprise at least one illumination source for illuminating the object.

In particular, the imaging device can be designed to image sequentially,for example by means of a scanning method, in particular using at leastone row scan and/or line scan, the plurality of partial regionssequentially. However, other embodiments are also possible, for exampleembodiments in which a plurality of partial regions is simultaneouslyimaged. The imaging device is designed to generate, during this imagingof the partial regions of the object, signals, preferably electronicsignals, associated with the partial regions. The signal may be ananalogue and/or a digital signal. By way of example, an electronicsignal can be associated with each partial region. The electronicsignals can accordingly be generated simultaneously or else in atemporally staggered manner. By way of example, during a row scan orline scan, it is possible to generate a sequence of electronic signalswhich correspond to the partial regions of the object, which are strungtogether in a line, for example. Further, the imaging device maycomprise one or more signal processing devices, such as one or morefilters and/or analogue-digital-converters for processing and/orpreprocessing the electronic signals.

As outlined above, the at least one longitudinal optical sensor may betransparent or intransparent, or may comprise at least one transparentlongitudinal optical sensor. A combination of at least one transparentand at least one intransparent longitudinal optical sensor is possible.

In a further preferred embodiment, the last longitudinal optical sensormay be intransparent. For this purpose, at least those parts of the lastlongitudinal optical sensor which are subject to be illuminated by thelight beam which travels from the object and which may impinge on thelast longitudinal optical sensor may comprise an optical sensormaterial, preferably an inorganic optical sensor material, and/or anorganic optical sensor material, and/or a hybrid organic-inorganicoptical sensor material, which exhibits intransparent opticalproperties. Intransparency may also be achieved by using at least oneintransparent electrode. In this embodiment, the last longitudinaloptical sensor may be designed such that its electrode facing towardsthe object is transparent, whereas its electrode facing away from theobject may be intransparent, or vice-versa. Additionally oralternatively, a respective material which exhibits intransparentoptical properties may be selected for at least one of then-semiconducting metal oxides, for at least one of the dyes, and/or forat least one of the p-semiconducting organic materials which maycomprise the last longitudinal optical sensor.

As outlined above, the detector may comprise at least one imagingdevice. The imaging device may fully or partially be embodied as anindependent imaging device, independent from the at least onetransversal optical sensor and the at least one longitudinal opticalsensor. Additionally or alternatively, the at least one optional imagingdevice may fully or partially be integrated into one or both of the atleast one transversal optical sensor and the at least one longitudinaloptical sensor. Thus, as an example, the imaging device may be used fordetermining a transversal position of a light spot and, thus, may beused as a transversal optical sensor or as a part thereof.

As outlined above, the detector may comprise a stack of at least twooptical sensors, the at least two optical sensors comprising the atleast one transversal optical sensor and the at least one longitudinaloptical sensor and, optionally, the at least one imaging device. Thus,as an example, the stack may comprise the at least one transversaloptical sensor, the at least one longitudinal optical sensor (preferablyat least one transparent longitudinal optical sensor) and, optionally,in a position furthest away from the object, at least one imagingdevice, preferably at least one intransparent imaging device such as aCCD or CMOS chip.

The stack of at least two optical sensors optionally may partially orfully be immersed in an oil, in a liquid and/or in a solid material inorder to avoid and/or decrease reflections at interfaces. Hereby, theoil, the liquid, and/or the solid material may preferably betransparent, preferentially to a high degree, at least over a part ofthe ultraviolet, visible, and/or infrared spectral range. In a preferredembodiment, the solid material may be generated by inserting at leastone curable substance into a region between at least two optical sensorsand treating the curable substance with a treatment, such as by incidentlight, particularly with light within the ultraviolet range, and/or byan application of a temperature above or below room temperature, bywhich treatment the curable substance might be cured, preferentially byhardening the curable substance into the solid material. Alternatively,at least two different curable substances may be inserted into a regionbetween at least two optical sensors, whereby the two different curablesubstances are selected in a manner that they begin to set into thesolid material with or without the treatment as indicated above.However, further treatments and/or other procedures of providing thetransparent solid material may be possible. Thus, at least one of theoptical sensors of the stack may fully or partially be immersed in theoil and/or the liquid and/or covered with the solid material.

Alternatively or additionally, the region between the at least twooptical sensors may be partially or fully filled with a substance, suchas the oil, the liquid and/or the solid material. Hereby, the substancemay preferably exhibit a refractive index with a value which may differfrom that of the optical sensors adjoining to the substance on one orboth sides of the region. However, inserting the additional substance inthe regions may require the optical sensors within the stack to observea minimum spacing between them.

In case a stack of at least two optical sensors is used, the lastoptical sensor of the stack may be transparent or intransparent. Thus,an intransparent inorganic optical sensor may be used in a positionfurthest away from the object. As an example, the last optical sensor ofthe stack may be or may comprise the at least one optional imagingdevice, such as at least one CCD or CMOS chip, preferably a full-colorCCD or CMOS chip.

Thus, the intransparent last optical sensor may be used as an imagingdevice, wherein the imaging device is impinged by the light beam afterthe light beam has traveled before through the stack of the transparentoptical sensors until it impinges the imaging device. In particular, theimaging device can be completely or partly used as a camera, such as anIR camera, or an RGB camera, as described above. Hereby, theintransparent last optical sensor can be embodied in various ways asimaging device. Thus, the intransparent last optical sensor can be forexample part of the detector in a detector housing. Alternatively oradditionally, however, the intransparent last optical sensor can also bearranged outside the detector housing, for example as a separate imagingdevice.

The stack comprising the at least one transversal optical sensor, the atleast one longitudinal optical sensor and the optional at least oneimaging device may be designed such that the elements of the stack arearranged along an optical axis of the detector. The last element of thestack may be an intransparent optical sensor, preferably selected fromthe group consisting of an intransparent transversal optical sensor, anintransparent longitudinal optical sensor and an intransparent imagingdevice such as an intransparent CCD or CMOS chip.

In a preferred arrangement, the stack comprising the at least onetransversal optical sensor, the at least one longitudinal optical sensorand, optionally, the at least one imaging device may be arranged along acommon optical axis of the detector, along which the light beam maytravel. In case the stack contains a plurality of optical sensors, theoptical sensors comprising the at least one transversal optical sensor,the at least one longitudinal optical sensor and, optionally, the atleast one imaging device, wherein at least one of the optical sensors isa transparent optical sensor and wherein at least one of the opticalsensors is an intransparent optical sensor, the transparent opticalsensor and the intransparent optical sensor, the latter preferably beingpositioned furthest away from the object, may be arranged along theoptical axis of the detector. However, other arrangements are possible.

In a further preferred embodiment, the intransparent last optical sensoris having at least one matrix of pixels, wherein a ‘matrix’ generallyrefers to an arrangement of a plurality of the pixels in space, whichmay be a linear arrangement or an areal arrangement. Generally, thematrix may, thus, preferably be selected from the group consisting of aone-dimensional matrix and a two-dimensional matrix. As an example, thematrix may comprise 100 to 100 000 000 pixels, preferably 1 000 to 1 000000 pixels and, more preferably, 10 000 to 500 000 pixels. Mostpreferably, the matrix is a rectangular matrix having pixels arranged inrows and columns.

As further used herein, a pixel generally refers to a light-sensitiveelement of an optical sensor, such as a minimum uniform unit of theoptical sensor adapted to generate a light signal. As an example, eachpixel may have a light-sensitive area of 1 μm² to 5 000 000 μm²,preferably 100 μm² to 4 000 000 μm², preferably 1 000 μm² to 1 000 000μm² and more preferably 2 500 μm² to 50 000 μm². Still, otherembodiments are feasible. The intransparent last optical sensor may beadapted to generate at least one signal which indicates an intensity ofillumination for each of the pixels. Thus, as an example, theintransparent last optical sensor may be adapted to generate at leastone electronic signal for each of the pixels, whereby each signalindicates the intensity of illumination for the respective pixel. Thesignal may be an analogue and/or a digital signal. Further, the detectormay comprise one or more signal processing devices, such as one or morefilters and/or analogue-digital-converters for processing and/orpreprocessing the at least one signal.

The intransparent last optical sensor having a matrix of pixels can beselected from the group consisting of: an inorganic semiconductor sensordevice such as a CCD chip and/or a CMOS chip; an organic semiconductorsensor device. In the latter case, as an example, the optical sensormay, for example, comprise at least one organic photovoltaic devicehaving a matrix of pixels. As used herein, an organic photovoltaicdevice generally refers to a device having at least one organicphotosensitive element and/or at least one organic layer. Therein,generally, any type of organic photovoltaic device may be used, such asorganic solar cells and/or an arbitrary device having at least oneorganic photosensitive layer. As an example, an organic solar celland/or a dye-sensitized organic solar cell may be comprised. Further, ahybrid device may be used, such as inorganic-organic photovoltaicdevices.

Further preferred embodiments refer to the evaluation device. Thus, theevaluation device may be designed to generate the at least one item ofinformation on the longitudinal position of the object from at least onepredefined relationship between the geometry of the illumination and arelative positioning of the object with respect to the detector,preferably taking account of a known power of the illumination andoptionally taking account of a modulation frequency with which theillumination is modulated.

In a further preferred embodiment, the detector furthermore may compriseat least one transfer device, wherein the transfer device is designed tofeed light emerging from the object to the transversal optical sensorand the longitudinal optical sensor, preferably subsequently. Detailsand preferred embodiments will be given below.

As outlined above, the light beam propagating from the object of thedetector may originate from the object or may originate from any othersource. Thus, the object itself may emit the light beam. Additionally oralternatively, the object might be illuminated by using an illuminationsource generating primary light, wherein the object elastically orinelastically reflects the primary light, thereby generating the lightbeam propagating to the detector. The illumination source itself may bepart of the detector. Thus, the detector may comprise at least oneillumination source. The illumination source generally may be selectedfrom: an illumination source, which is at least partly connected to theobject and/or is at least partly identical to the object; anillumination source which is designed to at least partly illuminate theobject with a primary radiation, preferably primary light, wherein thelight beam preferably is generated by a reflection of the primaryradiation on the object and/or by light emission by the object itself,stimulated by the primary radiation.

As outlined above, the detector preferably has a plurality oflongitudinal optical sensors. More preferably, the plurality oflongitudinal optical sensors is stacked, such as along the optical axisof the detector. Thus, the longitudinal optical sensors may form alongitudinal optical sensor stack. The longitudinal optical sensor stackpreferably may be oriented such that the sensor regions of thelongitudinal optical sensors are oriented perpendicular to the opticalaxis. Thus, as an example, sensor areas or sensor surfaces of the singlelongitudinal optical sensors may be oriented in parallel, wherein slightangular tolerances might be tolerable, such as angular tolerances of nomore than 10°, preferably of no more than 5°.

In case stacked longitudinal optical sensors are provided, the at leastone transversal optical sensor preferably fully or partially is locatedon a side of the stacked longitudinal optical sensors facing the object.However, other embodiments are feasible. Thus, embodiments in which theat least one transversal optical sensor is fully or partially located ona side of the transversal optical sensor stack facing away from theobject. Again, additionally or alternatively, embodiments are feasiblein which the at least one transversal optical sensor is located fully orpartially in between the longitudinal optical sensor stack.

The longitudinal optical sensors preferably are arranged such that alight beam from the object illuminates all longitudinal optical sensors,preferably sequentially. Specifically in this case, preferably, at leastone longitudinal sensor signal is generated by each longitudinal opticalsensor. This embodiment is specifically preferred since the stackedsetup of the longitudinal optical sensors allows for an easy andefficient normalization of the signals, even if an overall power orintensity of the light beam is unknown. Thus, the single longitudinalsensor signals may be known to be generated by one and the same lightbeam. Thus, the evaluation device may be adapted to normalize thelongitudinal sensor signals and to generate the information on thelongitudinal position of the object independent from an intensity of thelight beam. For this purpose, use may be made of the fact that, in casethe single longitudinal sensor signals are generated by one and the samelight beam, differences in the single longitudinal sensor signals areonly due to differences in the cross-sections of the light beam at thelocation of the respective sensor regions of the single longitudinaloptical sensors. Thus, by comparing the single longitudinal sensorsignals, information on a beam cross-section may be generated even ifthe overall power of the light beam is unknown. From the beamcross-section, information regarding the longitudinal position of theobject may be gained, specifically by making use of a known relationshipbetween the cross-section of the light beam and the longitudinalposition of the object.

Further, the above-mentioned stacking of the longitudinal opticalsensors and the generation of a plurality of longitudinal sensor signalsby these stacked longitudinal optical sensors may be used by theevaluation device in order to resolve an ambiguity in a knownrelationship between a beam cross-section of the light beam and thelongitudinal position of the object. Thus, even if the beam propertiesof the light beam propagating from the object to the detector are knownfully or partially, it is known that, in many beams, the beamcross-section narrows before reaching a focal point and, afterwards,widens again. Thus, before and often as a focal point in which the lightbeam has the narrowest beam cross-section, positions along the axis ofpropagation of the light beam occur in which the light beam has the samecross-section. Thus, as an example, at a distance z0 before and afterthe focal point, the cross-section of the light beam is identical. Thus,in case only one longitudinal optical sensor is used, a specificcross-section of the light beam might be determined, in case the overallpower or intensity of the light beam is known. By using thisinformation, the distance z0 of the respective longitudinal opticalsensor from the focal point might be determined. However, in order todetermine whether the respective longitudinal optical sensor is locatedbefore or behind the focal point, additional information is required,such as a history of movement of the object and/or the detector and/orinformation on whether the detector is located before or behind thefocal point. In typical situations, this additional information may notbe provided. Therefore, by using a plurality of longitudinal opticalsensors, additional information may be gained in order to resolve theabove-mentioned ambiguity. Thus, in case the evaluation device, byevaluating the longitudinal sensor signals, recognizes that the beamcross-section of the light beam on a first longitudinal optical sensoris larger than the beam cross-section of the light beam on a secondlongitudinal optical sensor, wherein the second longitudinal opticalsensor is located behind the first longitudinal optical sensor, theevaluation device may determine that the light beam is still narrowingand that the location of the first longitudinal optical sensor issituated before the focal point of the light beam. Contrarily, in casethe beam cross-section of the light beam on the first longitudinaloptical sensor is smaller than the beam cross-section of the light beamon the second longitudinal optical sensor, the evaluation device maydetermine that the light beam is widening and that the location of thesecond longitudinal optical sensor is situated behind the focal point.Thus, generally, the evaluation device may be adapted to recognizewhether the light beam widens or narrows, by comparing the longitudinalsensor signals of different longitudinal sensors.

In addition to the at least one longitudinal coordinate of the object,at least one transversal coordinate of the object may be determined.Thus, generally, the evaluation device may further be adapted todetermine at least one transversal coordinate of the object bydetermining a position of the light beam on the at least one transversaloptical sensor, which may be a pixelated, a segmented or a large-areatransversal optical sensor, as will be outlined in further detail below.

Thus, in case a pixelated transversal optical sensor is used and/or incase the at least one transversal optical sensor comprises at least onepixelated optical sensor having a matrix of pixels, the evaluationdevice may be adapted to determine a center of illumination of the atleast one matrix by the light beam, wherein the at least one transversalcoordinate of the object is determined by evaluating at least onecoordinate of the center of illumination. Thus, the coordinate of thecenter of illumination may be a pixel coordinate of the center ofillumination. As an example, the matrix may comprise rows and columns ofpixels, wherein the row number of the light beam and/or the center ofthe light beam within the matrix may provide an x-coordinate, andwherein the column number of the light beam and/or the center of thelight beam within the matrix may provide a y-coordinate.

The detector, as outlined above, may comprise at least one stack ofoptical sensors, the optical sensors comprising the at least onetransversal optical sensor and the at least on longitudinal opticalsensor, and, optionally, the at least one imaging device. The stack ofoptical sensors may comprise at least one longitudinal optical sensorstack, being a stack of longitudinal optical sensors, having at leasttwo longitudinal optical sensors in a stacked fashion. The longitudinaloptical sensor stack preferably may comprise at least three longitudinaloptical sensors, more preferably at least four longitudinal opticalsensors, even more preferably at least five longitudinal optical sensorsor even at least six longitudinal optical sensors. By tracking thelongitudinal sensor signals of the longitudinal optical sensors, even abeam profile of the light beam might be evaluated.

In case a plurality of the longitudinal optical sensors is used, whereinthe plurality of the optical sensors may be arranged in the stackedfashion and/or in another arrangement, the longitudinal optical sensorsmay have identical spectral sensitivities or may provide differentspectral sensitivities. Thus, as an example, at least two of thelongitudinal optical sensors may have a differing spectral sensitivity.As used herein, the term spectral sensitivity generally refers to thefact that the sensor signal of the optical sensor, for the same power ofthe light beam, may vary with the wavelength of the light beam. Thus,generally, at least two of the optical sensors may differ with regard totheir spectral properties. This embodiment generally may be achieved byusing different types of absorbing materials for the optical sensors,such as different types of dyes or other absorbing materials.

Preferably, the at least one transversal optical sensor uses at leastone transparent substrate. Similarly, preferably, the at least onelongitudinal optical sensor uses at least one transparent substrate. Incase a plurality of longitudinal optical sensors is used, such as astack of longitudinal optical sensors, preferably, at least one of theselongitudinal optical sensors uses a transparent substrate. Herein, thesubstrates employed for the plurality of optical sensors may exhibitidentical properties or may differ from each other, in particular, withregard to a geometrical quantity and/or a material quantity related tothe substrates, such as the thickness, the shape, and/or the refractiveindex of each substrate. Thus, identical planar glass plates may be usedfor the plurality of optical sensors within the stack. On the otherhand, different substrates may be employed for some optical sensors orfor each optical sensor within a plurality of optical sensors, inparticular, for a purpose of optimizing the light path within the stack,especially for guiding the light path along regions on the optical axiswhich might particularly be suited for exploiting the FiP-effect asdescribed elsewhere in this application. Within this regard, thethickness of some substrates or of each substrate, which may be definedby the light path as traversed by the light beam travelling through therespective substrate, may thus be varied, in particular, for reducing orelse increasing or even maximizing reflections of the light beam.

In addition or alternatively, the substrates employed for the pluralityof optical sensors may differ by exhibiting a different shape which maybe selected from the group comprising a planar, a planar-convex, aplanar-concave, a biconvex, a biconcave or any other form which may beemployed for optical purposes, such as lenses or prisms. Herein, thesubstrates may be rigid or else flexible. Suitable substrates are, aswell as metal foils, in particular plastic sheets or films andespecially glass sheets or glass films. Shape-changing materials, suchas shape-changing polymers, constitute an example of materials which maypreferentially be employed as flexible substrates. Furthermore, thesubstrate may be covered or coated, in particular, for the purpose ofreducing and/or modifying reflections of the incident light beam. As anexample, the substrate may be shaped in a manner that it might exhibit amirror effect, such as that of a dichroic mirror, which mightparticularly be useful in a setup where a splitting of the optical axisbehind the substrate may be required for any purpose.

Additionally or alternatively, differing spectral properties of theoptical sensors may be generated by other means implemented into theoptical sensors and/or into the detector, such as by using one or morewavelength-selective elements, such as one or more filters (such ascolor filters) in front of the optical sensors and/or by using one ormore prisms and/or by using one or more dichroitic mirrors and/or byusing one or more color conversion elements. Thus, in case a pluralityof longitudinal optical sensors is provided, at least one of thelongitudinal optical sensors may comprise a wavelength-selective elementsuch as a color filter, having a specific transmission or reflectioncharacteristic, thereby generating differing spectral properties of theoptical sensors. Further, the longitudinal optical sensors may all beorganic optical sensors, may all be inorganic optical sensors, may allbe hybrid organic-inorganic optical sensors or may comprise an arbitrarycombination of at least two optical sensors selected from the groupconsisting of organic optical sensors, inorganic optical sensors andhybrid organic-inorganic optical sensors.

In case the plurality of the longitudinal optical sensors is used,wherein at least two of the longitudinal optical sensors differ withregard to their respective spectral sensitivity, the evaluation devicegenerally may be adapted to determine a color of the light beam bycomparing sensor signals of the longitudinal optical sensors having thediffering spectral sensitivity. As used herein, the expression“determine a color” generally refers to the step of generating at leastone item of spectral information about the light beam. The at least oneitem of spectral information may be selected from the group consistingof a wavelength, specifically a peak wavelength; color coordinates, suchas CIE coordinates. As further used herein, a “color” of the light beamgenerally refers to a spectral composition of the light beam.Specifically, the color of the light beam may be given in any arbitrarycolor coordinate system and/or in spectral units such as by giving awavelength of a dominant peak of a spectrum of the light. Otherembodiments are feasible. In case the light beam is a narrow-band lightbeam such as a laser light beam and/or a light beam generated by asemiconductor device such as a light-emitting diode, the peak wavelengthof the light beam may be given to characterize the color of the lightbeam. The determination of the color of the light beam may be performedin various ways which are generally known to the skilled person. Thus,the spectral sensitivities of the longitudinal optical sensors may spana coordinate system in color space, and the signals provided by theoptical sensors may provide a coordinate in this color space, as knownto the skilled person for example from the way of determining CIEcoordinates. As an example, the detector may comprise two, three or morelongitudinal optical sensors in a stack. Thereof, at least two,preferably at least three, of the optical sensors may have differingspectral sensitivities, whereby three different longitudinal opticalsensors with maximum absorption wavelengths in a spectral range between600 nm and 780 nm (red), between 490 nm and 600 nm (green), and between380 nm and 490 nm (blue) are generally preferred. Further, theevaluation device may be adapted to generate at least one item of colorinformation for the light beam by evaluating the signals of thelongitudinal optical sensors having differing spectral sensitivities.

The evaluation device may be adapted to generate at least two colorcoordinates, preferably at least three color coordinates, wherein eachof the color coordinates is determined by dividing a signal of one ofthe spectrally sensitive optical sensors by a normalization value. As anexample, the normalization value may contain a sum of the signals of allspectrally sensitive optical sensors. Additionally or alternatively, thenormalization value may contain a detector signal of a white detector.The at least one item of color information may contain the colorcoordinates. The at least one item of color information may, as anexample, contain CIE coordinates.

Furthermore, in addition to the preferred at least two, more preferablyat least three, spectrally sensitive longitudinal optical sensors,wherein at least two of the optical sensors differ with regard to theirrespective spectral sensitivity, particularly wherein the spectralsensitivities of the at least two longitudinal optical sensors may spana coordinate system in color space, the stack may comprise a lastlongitudinal optical sensor, wherein the last longitudinal opticalsensor may be intransparent. An intransparency of the last longitudinaloptical sensor may be achieved by selecting an optically intransparentmaterial from the group consisting of: organic optical sensor materials,inorganic optical sensor materials and hybrid organic-inorganic opticalsensor materials.

In a preferred embodiment, the intransparent last longitudinal opticalsensor may be configured to exhibit an absorption spectrum which eitherdoes not vary at all or varies only to minor extent over the spectralrange of the at least two different optical sensors. Whereas each of theat least two different optical sensors displays a specific spectralsensitivity which may, as described above, vary considerably over theirspectral range allowing them to be sensitive to a specific color, theintransparent last longitudinal optical sensor may, thus, absorbsubstantially all colors over the spectral ranges of the at least two ofthe longitudinal optical sensors have a differing spectral sensitivity.By this property, the last longitudinal optical sensor may be describedas a white detector, wherein the white detector may be adapted to absorblight in an absorption range covering the visible spectral range. Thisarrangement has the advantage that, irrespective of the specific color,each beam which propagates through the at least two different opticalsensors until it impinges the intransparent last longitudinal opticalsensor, will be recorded by at least two different optical sensors, i.e.by at least one of the at least two different optical sensors which issensitive to the color as the first longitudinal optical sensor and bythe intransparent last longitudinal optical sensor as the secondlongitudinal optical sensor. As described above, by recording at leastone object by both the first longitudinal optical sensor and the secondlongitudinal optical sensor it will be possible to resolve the ambiguityin the known relationship between the beam cross-section of the lightbeam and the longitudinal position of the at least one object, whereinthe resolving of the ambiguity may work separately for each color whichmay be recorded. In addition, it may be advantageous to set a firstsignal recorded by the first longitudinal optical sensor in relationshipto a second signal recorded by the last or second longitudinal opticalsensor, such as by calculating a quotient or another relatedrelationship. A result obtained by creating such a relationship mayparticularly facilitate the recognition of a certain color by thisarrangement.

As outlined above, the intransparent last longitudinal optical sensormay be a large-area sensor having a single sensitive area or maycomprise at least one matrix of pixels, i.e. may be a pixelated opticalsensor or imaging sensor. In a further preferred embodiment, the pixelsthemselves may be equipped with different spectral sensitivity which mayallow them to become sensitive to a specific color. Hereby, the specificcolors may be distributed over the area of the last longitudinal opticalsensor in any fashion, for example in a random fashion. However, anarrangement is preferred wherein pixels with sensitivity to a specificcolor are placed in an alternating fashion over the area of theintransparent last longitudinal optical sensor. By way of example, two,three, or four pixels with different sensitivity, e.g. three pixels witha specific sensitivity to red, green, and blue, alternate each other ina one-dimensional or, preferably, in a two-dimensional manner, over thearea of the last longitudinal optical sensor. This arrangement mayfurther been interrupted by white pixels, i.e. pixels which exhibit aspectral sensitivity over a large spectral range, e.g. over the visiblespectrum, or over a spectrum which may include infrared or ultravioletshares.

In a further preferred embodiment, the detector may be adapted, such asby using at least one optically sensitive element. As further usedherein, the “optically sensitive element” may be considered as anarbitrary optical element which may be sensitive to a specific value ofan optical property or to a specific range of values of the opticalproperty of the light beam which may impinge on the optically sensitiveelement in a manner that the specific value of the optical property orto the specific range of values of the optical property is preferredwith regard to other values of the light beam. The optical property asemployed here may be selected from the group referring to the light beamand consisting of: a wavelength, a phase, and a polarization. Thus, theoptically sensitive element may be designated as a wavelength-sensitiveelement, a phase-sensitive element, and/or a polarization-sensitiveelement, respectively. Examples for wavelength-sensitive elements maycomprise one or more of a prism, a grating, a dichroitic mirror, a colorwheel, or a color drum.

By using the optically sensitive element, the light beam may beinfluenced by an optical effect related to the at least one opticalproperty immediately before an interaction, during the interactionand/or immediately after the interaction of the light beam with theoptically sensitive element. Consequently, an expression like “passingthrough the optically sensitive element” may refer to a time periodduring which the light beam may interact with the respective element. Ingeneral, the optically sensitive element may induce the optical effecton the light beam impinging on the optically sensitive element, such asby altering a transmission or a reflectance of the impinging light beam.

Within this particular embodiment, for sequentially detecting detectorsignals for the different optical properties, such as different colors,different phases, and/or different polarizations, the at least oneoptically sensitive element may be adapted to sequentially influence thelight beam. As an example for a sequential process, a rotating filterwheel may be used having filter segments of different transmissionproperties, for periodically influencing the light beam. Thus, eachcycle of rotation of the filter wheel may be split into time segments,wherein each segment may correspond to a different optical property,such as to a different color, a different phase and/or a differentpolarization. With regard to a filter wheel wherein each segmentcorresponds to a different polarization, the filter wheel may preferablyexhibit an elliptical polarization, in particular a circularpolarization, which may be changing along the circumference of thefilter wheel, for example in a discrete or in a continuous manner.However, other embodiments, such as filter wheels which may employdifferent orientations of a linear polarization within differentsegments, may be feasible.

In general, at least one optical sensor may be placed behind the filterwheel, in order to generate at least one combined detector signal. Byevaluating the at least one combined detector signal in a time-resolvedfashion, such as by using a phase-sensitive detection, the combineddetector signal may be split into partial detector signals correspondingto the different time segments and, thus, corresponding to the differentcolors of the light beam. Thereby, detector signals for each color, eachphase and/or each polarization may be generated, which may correspond tothe light beams impinging on the detector. Collecting the data fordifferent optical properties, i.e. different colors or phases orpolarizations, from the broadly absorbing stack of optical sensors, mayresult in acquiring the overall distribution. Consequently, the use of afilter wheel may, therefore, allow determining simultaneously therespective optical property, such as color, phase, or polarization, andintensity and depth by using the detector according to the presentinvention, thereby avoiding the previous necessity to employ solar cellsexhibiting different absorption spectra.

Generally, as outlined above, the evaluation device may be adapted togenerate the at least one item of information on the longitudinalposition of the object by determining a diameter of the light beam fromthe at least one longitudinal sensor signal. As used herein and as usedin the following, the diameter of the light beam or, equivalently, abeam waist of the light beam might be used to characterize the beamcross-section of the light beam at a specific location. As outlinedabove, a known relationship might be used between the longitudinalposition of the object and the beam cross-section in order to determinethe longitudinal position of the object by evaluating the at least onelongitudinal sensor signal. As an example, as outlined above, a Gaussianrelationship might be used, assuming that the light beam propagates atleast approximately in a Gaussian Manner. For this purpose, the lightbeam might be shaped appropriately, such as by using an illuminationsource generating a light beam having known propagation properties, suchas a known Gaussian profile. For this purpose, the illumination sourceitself may generate the light beam having the known properties, which,for example, is the case for many types of lasers, as the skilled personknows. Additionally or alternatively, the illumination source and/or thedetector may have one or more beam-shaping elements, such as one or morelenses and/or one or more diaphragms, in order to provide a light beamhaving known properties, as the skilled person will recognize. Thus, asan example, one or more transfer elements may be provided, such as oneor more transfer elements having known beam-shaping properties.Additionally or alternatively, the illumination source and/or thedetector, such as the at least one optional transfer element, may haveone or more wavelength-selective elements, such as one or more filters,such as one or more filter elements for filtering out wavelengthsoutside an excitation maximum of the at least one transversal opticalsensor and/or the at least one longitudinal optical sensor.

Thus, generally, the evaluation device may be adapted to compare thebeam cross-section and/or the diameter of the light beam with known beamproperties of the light beam in order to determine the at least one itemof information on the longitudinal position of the object, preferablyfrom a known dependency of a beam diameter of the light beam on at leastone propagation coordinate in a direction of propagation of the lightbeam and/or from a known Gaussian profile of the light beam.

In a specific embodiment, the evaluation device is adapted to determinea number N of pixels of at least one pixelated optical sensor of thedetector, such as of the last longitudinal optical sensor, which areilluminated by the light beam, the evaluation device further beingadapted to determine at least one longitudinal coordinate of the objectby using the number N of pixels which are illuminated by the light beam.Therefore, the evaluation device may be adapted to compare, for each ofthe pixels, the signal to at least one threshold in order to determinewhether the pixel is an illuminated pixel or not. This at least onethreshold may be an individual threshold for each of the pixels or maybe a threshold which is a uniform threshold for the whole matrix. Incase a plurality of optical sensors is provided, at least one thresholdmay be provided for each of the optical sensors and/or for a groupcomprising at least two of the optical sensors, wherein, for two opticalsensors, their respective thresholds may be identical or different.Thus, for each of the optical sensors, an individual threshold may beprovided. The threshold may be predetermined and/or fixed.Alternatively, the at least one threshold may be variable. Thus, the atleast one threshold may be determined individually for each measurementor groups of measurements. Thus, at least one algorithm may be providedadapted to determine the threshold.

The evaluation device may generally be adapted to determine at least onepixel having the highest illumination out of the pixels by comparing thesignals of the pixels. Thus, the detector generally may be adapted todetermine one or more pixels and/or an area or region of the matrixhaving the highest intensity of the illumination by the light beam. Asan example, in this way, a center of illumination by the light beam maybe determined. The highest illumination and/or the information about theat least one area or region of highest illumination may be used invarious ways. Thus, as outlined above, the at least one above-mentionedthreshold may be a variable threshold. As an example, the evaluationdevice may be adapted to choose the above-mentioned at least onethreshold as a fraction of the signal of the at least one pixel havingthe highest illumination. Thus, the evaluation device may be adapted tochoose the threshold by multiplying the signal of the at least one pixelhaving the highest illumination with a factor of 1/e². This option isparticularly preferred in case Gaussian propagation properties areassumed for the at least one light beam, since the threshold 1/e²generally determines the borders of a light spot having a beam radius orbeam waist generated by a Gaussian light beam on the optical sensor.

A further aspect of the present invention makes use of at least twodetectors according to the present invention, wherein each of suchdetectors may be selected as of at least one detector according to oneor more of the embodiments disclosed above or disclosed in furtherdetail below. Thus, for optional embodiments of the method, referencemight be made to the respective embodiments of the detector.

In a preferred embodiment, the at least one object might be illuminatedby using at least one illumination source which generates primary light,wherein the at least one object elastically or inelastically reflectsthe primary light, thereby generating a plurality of light beams whichpropagate to one of the at least two detectors. The at least oneillumination source may form or may not form a constituent part of eachof the at least two detectors which. Thus, the at least one illuminationsource may be formed independently of the at least two detectors andmay, therefore, particularly be located in at least one position whichis separated from the at least two detectors. By way of example, the atleast one illumination source itself may be or may comprise an ambientlight source and/or may be or may comprise an artificial illuminationsource. This embodiment is preferably suited for an application in whichat least two detectors, preferentially two identical detectors, areemployed for acquiring depth information, in particular, for the purposeto providing a measurement volume which extends the inherent measurementvolume of a single detector.

The inherent measurement volume of a single detector may, in many cases,be described as an approximate half-cone, wherein a first object whichis located within the inherent measurement volume may be detected by thesingle detector whereas a second object which is located outside theinherent measurement volume can principally not be detected by thesingle detector. The conical surface of the approximate half-cone can beconsidered to be formed by a virtual reverse light beam which would beemitted by the at least one optical sensor. The virtual reverse lightbeam would, thus, emerge from the surface of the at least one opticalsensor which, however, does not constitute a point source but rather anextended area. From simple geometrical considerations it can be deducedthat no virtual reverse light beam emitted by the at least one opticalsensor in this manner will able to reach all positions in all directionsin the volume which surrounds the at least one optical sensor. However,the locations which may be virtually hit by the virtual reverse lightbeam form an approximate half-cone which can be described as theinherent measurement volume of the single detector.

Therefore, in order to be able to cover a large measurement volume whichexceeds the inherent measurement volume of a single detector, at leasttwo detectors may be used, wherein the at least two detectors may beidentical or may differ from each other with respect to at least onecertain technical property as described elsewhere. In general, the largemeasurement volume comprises an overlapping volume, which denotes aregion in space, which may be coherent or not, wherein double or evenmultiple detection may occur, i.e. a specific object may be detected bytwo or more detectors independently, at the same time or at differenttimes. Even in case when two or more detectors, particularly two or moreidentical detectors, are employed, the double or multiple detection of aspecific object does not destroy a reliable acquisition of the depthinformation about the specific object in the overlapping volume. Sincethe at least one illumination source may be formed independently of theat least two detectors, typically, no relationship exists between aspecific illumination source and a specific detector. Therefore, areliable acquisition of the depth information will also be possible whenat least two of the detectors point towards each other. As a result ofthis disconnection between the specific illumination source and thespecific detector, the recording of the depth information about thespecific object will not be impaired when the specific object may belocated in the overlapping volume. On the contrary, the depthinformation in the overlapping volume which concerns a specific objectmay independently been acquired by more than one detector at the sametime and can, thus, be used to improve the accuracy of the depthmeasurement for the specific object. By way of example, this improvementmay be achieved by comparing respective depth values which are recordedsimultaneously or successively for the same object by at least twoseparate single detectors.

In a further aspect of the present invention, a human-machine interfacefor exchanging at least one item of information between a user and amachine is proposed. The human-machine interface as proposed may makeuse of the fact that the above-mentioned detector in one or more of theembodiments mentioned above or as mentioned in further detail below maybe used by one or more users for providing information and/or commandsto a machine. Thus, preferably, the human-machine interface may be usedfor inputting control commands.

The human-machine interface comprises at least one detector according tothe present invention, such as according to one or more of theembodiments disclosed above and/or according to one or more of theembodiments as disclosed in further detail below, wherein thehuman-machine interface is designed to generate at least one item ofgeometrical information of the user by means of the detector wherein thehuman-machine interface is designed to assign to the geometricalinformation at least one item of information, in particular at least onecontrol command.

Generally, as used herein, the at least one item of geometricalinformation of the user may imply one or more items of information on atransversal position and/or on a longitudinal position of the userand/or one or more body parts of the user. Thus, preferably, thegeometrical information of the user may imply one or more items ofinformation on a transversal position and/or a longitudinal position asprovided by the evaluation device of the detector. The user, a body partof the user or a plurality of body parts of the user may be regarded asone or more objects which may be detected by the at least one detector.Therein, precisely one detector may be provided, or a combination of aplurality of detectors may be provided. As an example, a plurality ofdetectors may be provided for determining positions of a plurality ofbody parts of the user and/or for determining an orientation of at leastone body part of the user. The human-machine interface may comprise oneor more detectors, wherein, in case a plurality of detectors isprovided, the detectors may be identical or may differ. Herein, in casea plurality of detectors is used, the plurality of detectors,particularly the plurality of identical detectors, still allows for areliable acquisition of depth information about the at least one objectin an overlapping volume which may be recorded, as described above, bythe plurality of detectors.

Thus, preferably, the at least one item of geometrical information ofthe user is selected from the group consisting of: a position of a bodyof the user; a position of at least one body part of the user; anorientation of a body of the user; an orientation of at least one bodypart of the user.

The human-machine interface may further comprise at least one beacondevice connectable to the user. As used herein, a beacon devicegenerally is an arbitrary device which may be detected by the at leastone detector and/or which facilitates detection by the at least onedetector. Thus, as will be outlined in further detail below, the beacondevice may be an active beacon device adapted for generating the atleast one light beam to be detected by the detector, such as by havingone or more illumination sources for generating the at least one lightbeam. Additionally or alternatively, the beacon device may fully orpartially be designed as a passive beacon device, such as by providingone or more reflective elements adapted to reflect a light beamgenerated by a separate illumination source. The at least one beacondevice may permanently or temporarily be attached to the user. Theattachment may take place by using one or more attachment means and/orby the user himself or herself, such as by the user holding the at leastone beacon device by hand and/or by the user wearing the beacon device.

The human-machine interface may be adapted such that the detector maygenerate an information on the position of the at least one beacondevice. Specifically in case a manner of attachment of the at least onebeacon device to the user is known, from the at least one item ofinformation on the position of the at least one beacon device at leastone item of information regarding a position and/or an orientation ofthe user or one or more body parts of the user may be gained.

The beacon device preferably is one of a beacon device attachable to abody or a body part of the user and a beacon device which may be held bythe user. As outlined above, the beacon device may fully or partially bedesigned as an active beacon device. Thus, the beacon device maycomprise at least one illumination source adapted to generate at leastone light beam to be transmitted to the detector, preferably at leastone light beam having known beam properties. Additionally oralternatively, the beacon device may comprise at least one reflectoradapted to reflect light generated by an illumination source, therebygenerating a reflected light beam to be transmitted to the detector.

The beacon device preferably may comprise at least one of: a garment tobe worn by the user, preferably a garment selected from the groupconsisting of a glove, a jacket, a hat, shoes, trousers and a suit; astick that may be held by hand; a bat; a club; a racket; a cane; a toy,such as a toy gun.

In a further aspect of the present invention, an entertainment devicefor carrying out at least one entertainment function is disclosed. Asused herein, an entertainment device is a device which may serve thepurpose of leisure and/or entertainment of one or more users, in thefollowing also referred to as one or more players. As an example, theentertainment device may serve the purpose of gaming, preferablycomputer gaming. Additionally or alternatively, the entertainment devicemay also be used for other purposes, such as for exercising, sports,physical therapy or motion tracking in general. Thus, the entertainmentdevice may be implemented into a computer, a computer network or acomputer system or may comprise a computer, a computer network or acomputer system which runs one or more gaming software programs.

The entertainment device comprises at least one human-machine interfaceaccording to the present invention, such as according to one or more ofthe embodiments disclosed above and/or according to one or more of theembodiments disclosed below. The entertainment device is designed toenable at least one item of information to be input by a player by meansof the human-machine interface. The at least one item of information maybe transmitted to and/or may be used by a controller and/or a computerof the entertainment device.

The at least one item of information preferably may comprise at leastone command adapted for influencing the course of a game. Thus, as anexample, the at least one item of information may include at least oneitem of information on at least one of a movement, the orientation and aposition of the player and/or of one or more body parts of the player,thereby allowing for the player to simulate a specific position and/oraction required for gaming. As an example, one or more of the followingmovements may be simulated and communicated to a controller and/or acomputer of the entertainment device: dancing; running; jumping;swinging of a racket; swinging of a bat; swinging of a club; pointing ofan object towards another object, such as pointing of a toy gun towardsa target.

The entertainment device, preferably a controller and/or a computer ofthe entertainment device, is designed to vary the entertainment functionin accordance with the information. Thus, as outlined above, a course ofa game might be influenced in accordance with the at least one item ofinformation. Thus, the entertainment device might include one or morecontrollers which might be separate from the evaluation device of the atleast one detector and/or which might be fully or partially identical tothe at least one evaluation device or which might even include the atleast one evaluation device. Preferably, the at least one controllermight include one or more data processing devices, such as one or morecomputers and/or microcontrollers.

In a further embodiment of the present invention, the entertainmentdevice may be part of an equipment, the equipment being a mobile pieceor, in particular, an immobile piece, wherein the equipment may at leastpartially incorporate the entertainment device. The equipment mayinclude a single, separate piece being located at a position, either afixed position or a position at least intermittently subject to avariation, but the equipment may also comprise at least two pieces,preferably two to tell pieces, such as three, four, five, or six pieces,wherein the at least two pieces may be distributed over at least twopositions differing from each other within an area, such as a room or apart thereof. Hereby, the entertainment device may be part of theequipment, wherein preferably some or each piece of the equipment mayexhibit a part of the entertainment device, e.g. in such a manner thatsome or each piece of the equipment may comprise at least one detectoraccording to the present invention or a part thereof, such as a sensor.As used herein, “immobile equipment” may include an immobile electronicarticle, in particular, designated as consumer electronics, wherein“consumer electronics” comprises electronic articles preferentiallyintended for everyday use, mainly in entertainment, communications andoffice matters, such as radio receivers, monitors, television sets,audio players, video players, personal computers and/or telephones. Aparticular example constituting the immobile equipment may be a surroundsystem, which may for example be formed by a number of two, three, four,five, six or more separate pieces of the equipment, such as individualmonitors or audio players, including loudspeakers, which may bedistributed over an area, preferentially in a specific fashion, such asforming an arc-shaped assembly enclosing a room or a part thereof.

Additionally or alternatively, the entertainment device or a partthereof, such as one, some or each piece of the equipment, may furtherbe equipped with one or more of the following devices: a photographicdevice, such as a camera, particularly a 2D camera, a picture analysissoftware, particularly a 2D picture analysis software, and a referenceobject, particularly a geometrically symmetric reference object, such asa book or a specially formed toy. Hereby, the reference object may alsobe a part of the immobile equipment and fulfill a further function ofthe entertainment device as described above and/or below, wherein thereference object may further comprise a detector, a 2D camera or anotherphotographic device. Preferably, a constructive interaction of thephotographic device, the picture analysis software and the particularlysymmetric reference object, may facilitate an alignment of a 2D pictureof an object in question as recorded by the photographic device with the3D position of the same object as determined by the at least onedetector.

In a further embodiment of the present invention, the object which mayconstitute a target of the at least one detector comprised within the atleast one human-machine interface of the entertainment device, may bepart of a controller as comprised within mobile equipment, wherein themobile equipment may be configured to control another mobile equipmentor immobile equipment. As used herein, “mobile equipment” may, thus,include mobile electronic articles, in particular, designated asconsumer electronics, such as mobile phones, radio receivers, videorecorders, audio players, digital cameras, camcorders, mobile computers,video game consoles and/or other devices adapted for remote control.This embodiment may particularly allow controlling immobile equipmentwith any kind of mobile equipment, preferably with a lesser number ofpieces of equipment. As a non-limiting example, it may, thus, bepossible to simultaneously control for example both a game console and atelevision set by using a mobile phone.

Additionally or alternatively, the object which may constitute thetarget of the detector may further be equipped with an additional sensor(apart from the sensors as comprised within the detector) particularlyconfigured for determining a physical and/or chemical quantity relatedto the object, such as an inertia sensor for measuring the inertialmotion of the object, or an acceleration sensor for determining theacceleration of the object. However, besides these preferred examples,other kinds of sensors adapted for acquiring further parameter relatedto the object, such as a vibrational sensor for determining vibrationsof the object, a temperature sensor for recording the temperature of theobject, or a humidity sensor for recording the humidity of the objectmay be employed. An application of the additional sensor within theobject may allow improving the quality and/or the scope of the detectionof the position of the object. As a non-limiting example, the additionalinertia sensor and/or acceleration sensor may particularly be configuredto record additional movements of the object, such as a rotation of theobject, which may particularly be employed for increasing the accuracyof the object detection. Moreover, the additional inertia sensor and/oracceleration sensor may preferentially still be addressed in a casewhere the object being equipped with at least one of these sensors mayleave a visual range of the detector comprised within the human-machincinterface of the entertainment device. In this case, it might,nevertheless, be possible to follow the object after the object may haveleft the visual range of the detector by still being able to recordingsignals emitted from at least one of these sensors and using thesesignals for determining the location of the object by taking intoaccount its actual inertia and acceleration values and calculating theposition therefrom.

Additionally or alternatively, the object which may constitute thetarget of the detector may further be equipped with a further featureallowing both to simulate and/or to stimulate motions, for example bysimulating motions of the object, wherein the object may be virtual orreal and wherein the object may be controlled by a controller, and/or bystimulating motions of the object by applying the controlleraccordingly. This feature may particularly be employed for providing amore realistic entertainment experience for a user. As an illustratingexample, a steering wheel as employed in an entertainment device mayvibrate, wherein the amplitude of the vibrations may depend on a natureof a ground on which a virtual car may be driving on. As a furtherembodiment, the motion of the object may be stimulated by employing agyroscope, which may be used for example for a stabilization of flyingvehicles as described under the address en.wikipedia.org/wiki/gyroscope.

In a further embodiment of the present invention, the object which mayconstitute the target of the at least one detector may be equipped withat least one modulation device for modulating the illumination, inparticular for a periodic modulation. Preferably, the object maycomprise at least one illumination source, which may be part of theobject or, alternatively or additionally, be held by the object orattached thereto and which may act as a beacon in a manner as describedelsewhere in this application. The illumination may be adapted togenerate at least one light beam to be transmitted to the detector,whereby the illumination source comprises a modulation device formodulating the illumination and/or the modulation device may be aseparate device configured for controlling the emission of theillumination source.

According to this embodiment, apart from the fundamental modulation ofthe illumination source, the modulation device may generate additionalmodulation frequencies, also be denoted as “overtones”, which might beused for transmitting any item of additional information or data fromthe object to the detector. This embodiment, which might also bedesignated as a “modulating retro-reflector”, may open the way to employthe object equipped with the modulation device configured for generatingboth the fundamental and the additional modulation frequencies as remotecontrol. Further, an already existing remote control may be replaced bythe object equipped with the described modulation device. Against thisbackground, this kind of object and a piece configured for remotecontrol may interchangeably be used within an arrangement incorporatinga detector according to the present invention.

In a further embodiment of the present invention, the entertainmentdevice may further be equipped with additional items such as itemscommonly used within such an environment. Glasses or other devices beingconfigured for creating a 3D vision within the mind of a player mayconstitute a particular example.

In a further embodiment of the present invention, the entertainmentdevice may further be equipped with an augmented reality application. Asfurther used herein, “augmented reality” may describe a live perceptionof reality comprising elements which may be modified bycomputer-generated data primarily related to physical phenomena such assound, images, or others. An example may be vision glasses which areparticularly adapted for augmented reality applications. Another examplemay include an arrangement comprising at least two detectors, preferablya multitude thereof, wherein the detectors may particularly be arrangedto cover an area within a room or a preferably large part thereof, aphotographic device, such as a camera, particularly a 2D camera, and anaugmented reality application, wherein the arrangement might be employedto transform a real area into a playing filed, which may also bedesignated as an entertainment field.

In a further aspect of the present invention, a tracking system fortracking the position of at least one movable object is provided. Asused herein, a tracking system is a device which is adapted to gatherinformation on a series of past positions of the at least one object orat least one part of an object. Additionally, the tracking system may beadapted to provide information on at least one predicted future positionof the at least one object or the at least one part of the object. Thetracking system may have at least one track controller, which may fullyor partially be embodied as an electronic device, preferably as at leastone data processing device, more preferably as at least one computer ormicrocontroller. Again, the at least one track controller may comprisethe at least one evaluation device and/or may be part of the at leastone evaluation device and/or may fully or partially be identical to theat least one evaluation device.

The tracking system comprises at least one detector according to thepresent invention, such as at least one detector as disclosed in one ormore of the embodiments listed above and/or as disclosed in one or moreof the embodiments below. The tracking system further comprises at leastone track controller. The tracking system may comprise one, two or moredetectors, particularly two or more identical detectors, which allow fora reliable acquisition of depth information about the at least oneobject in an overlapping volume between the two or more detectors. Thetrack controller is adapted to track a series of positions of theobject, each position comprising at least one item of information on atransversal position of the object at a specific point in time and atleast one item of information on a longitudinal position of the objectat a specific point in time.

The tracking system may further comprise at least one beacon deviceconnectable to the object. For a potential definition of the beacondevice, reference may be made to the disclosure above. The trackingsystem preferably is adapted such that the detector may generate aninformation on the position of the object of the at least one beacondevice. For potential embodiments of the beacon device, reference may bemade to the disclosure above. Thus, again, the beacon device may fullyor partially be embodied as an active beacon device and/or as a passivebeacon device. As an example, the beacon device may comprise at leastone illumination source adapted to generate at least one light beam tobe transmitted to the detector. Additionally or alternatively, thebeacon device may comprise at least one reflector adapted to reflectlight generated by an illumination source, thereby generating areflected light beam to be transmitted to the detector.

The tracking system may be adapted to initiate one or more actions ofthe tracking system itself and/or of one or more separate devices. Forthe latter purpose, the tracking system, preferably the trackcontroller, may have one or more wireless and/or wire-bound interfacesand/or other types of control connections for initiating at least oneaction. Preferably, the at least one track controller may be adapted toinitiate at least one action in accordance with at least one actualposition of the object. As an example, the action may be selected fromthe group consisting of: a prediction of a future position of theobject; pointing at least one device towards the object; pointing atleast one device towards the detector; illuminating the object;illuminating the detector.

As an example of application of a tracking system, the tracking systemmay be used for continuously pointing at least one first object to atleast one second object even though the first object and/or the secondobject might move. Potential examples, again, may be found in industrialapplications, such as in robotics and/or for continuously working on anarticle even though the article is moving, such as during manufacturingin a manufacturing line or assembly line. Additionally or alternatively,the tracking system might be used for illumination purposes, such as forcontinuously illuminating the object by continuously pointing anillumination source to the object even though the object might bemoving.

Further applications might be found in communication systems, such as inorder to continuously transmit information to a moving object bypointing a transmitter towards the moving object.

In a further aspect of the present invention, a camera for imaging atleast one object is disclosed. The camera comprises at least onedetector according to the present invention, such as disclosed in one ormore of the embodiments given above or given in further detail below.

Thus, specifically, the present application may be applied in the fieldof photography. Thus, the detector may be part of a photographic device,specifically of a digital camera. Specifically, the detector may be usedfor 3D photography, specifically for digital 3D photography. Thus, thedetector may form a digital 3D camera or may be part of a digital 3Dcamera. As used herein, the term “photography” generally refers to thetechnology of acquiring image information of at least one object. Asfurther used herein, a “camera” generally is a device adapted forperforming photography. As further used herein, the term “digitalphotography” generally refers to the technology of acquiring imageinformation of at least one object by using a plurality oflight-sensitive elements adapted to generate electrical signalsindicating an intensity and/or color of illumination, preferably digitalelectrical signals. As further used herein, the term “3D photography”generally refers to the technology of acquiring image information of atleast one object in three spatial dimensions. Accordingly, a 3D camerais a device adapted for performing 3D photography. The camera generallymay be adapted for acquiring a single image, such as a single 3D image,or may be adapted for acquiring a plurality of images, such as asequence of images. Thus, the camera may also be a video camera adaptedfor video applications, such as for acquiring digital video sequences.

Thus, generally, the present invention further refers to a camera,specifically a digital camera, more specifically a 3D camera or digital3D camera, for imaging at least one object. As outlined above, the termimaging, as used herein, generally refers to acquiring image informationof at least one object. The camera comprises at least one detectoraccording to the present invention. The camera, as outlined above, maybe adapted for acquiring a single image or for acquiring a plurality ofimages, such as image sequence, preferably for acquiring digital videosequences. Thus, as an example, the camera may be or may comprise avideo camera. In the latter case, the camera preferably comprises a datamemory for storing the image sequence.

As used within the present invention, the expression “position”generally refers to at least one item of information regarding one ormore of an absolute position and an orientation of one or more points ofthe object. Thus, specifically, the position may be determined in acoordinate system of the detector, such as in a Cartesian coordinatesystem. Additionally or alternatively, however, other types ofcoordinate systems may be used, such as polar coordinate systems and/orspherical coordinate systems.

In a further aspect of the present invention, a method for determining aposition of at least one object is disclosed. The method preferably maymake use of at least one detector according to the present invention,such as of at least one detector according to one or more of theembodiments disclosed above or disclosed in further detail below. Thus,for optional embodiments of the method, reference might be made to theembodiments of the detector.

The method comprises the following steps, which may be performed in thegiven order or in a different order. Further, additional method stepsmight be provided which are not listed. Further, two or more or even allof the method steps might be performed at least partiallysimultaneously. Further, two or more or even all of the method stepsmight be performed twice or even more than twice, repeatedly.

In a first method step, which might also be referred to as a step ofdetermining at least one transversal position, at least one transversaloptical sensor is used. The transversal optical sensor determines atransversal position of at least one light beam traveling from theobject to the detector, wherein the transversal position is a positionin at least one dimension perpendicular to an optical axis of thedetector. The transversal optical sensor generates at least onetransversal sensor signal.

In a further method step, which might also be referred to as a step ofdetermining at least one longitudinal position, at least onelongitudinal optical sensor is used. The longitudinal optical sensor hasat least one sensor region. The longitudinal optical sensor generates atleast one longitudinal sensor signal in a manner dependent on anillumination of the sensor region by the light beam. The longitudinalsensor signal, given the same total power of the illumination, isdependent on a beam cross-section of the light beam in the sensorregion.

In a further method step, which might also be referred to as anevaluation step, at least one evaluation device is used. The evaluationdevice generates at least one item of information on a transversalposition of the object by evaluating the transversal sensor signal andwherein the evaluation device further generates at least one item ofinformation on a longitudinal position of the object by evaluating thelongitudinal sensor signal.

In a further aspect of the present invention, a use of a detectoraccording to the present invention is disclosed. Therein, a use of thedetector for a purpose of use is proposed, selected from the groupconsisting of: a distance measurement, in particular in traffictechnology; a position measurement, in particular in traffic technology;an entertainment application; a security application; a human-machineinterface application; a tracking application; a photographyapplication; an imaging application or camera application; a mappingapplication for generating maps of at least one space.

In the following, some additional remarks regarding potentialembodiments of the detector, the human-machine interface, the trackingsystem and the method according to the present invention are given. Asoutlined above, preferably, for potential details of the setups of theat least one transversal optical detector and the at least onelongitudinal optical detector, reference may be made to WO 2012/110924A1, specifically with regard to potential electrode materials, organicmaterials, inorganic materials, layer setups and further details.

The object can generally be a living or else inanimate object. Examplesof objects which can be detected completely or partly by means of thedetector are described in even greater detail below.

Further, with regard to potential embodiments of the optional transferdevice, reference may be made to WO 2012/110924 A1. Thus, this optionaltransfer device can comprise for example at least one beam path. Thetransfer device can for example comprise one or a plurality of mirrorsand/or beam splitters and/or beam deflecting elements in order toinfluence a direction of the electromagnetic radiation. Alternatively oradditionally, the transfer device can comprise one or a plurality ofimaging elements which can have the effect of a converging lens and/or adiverging lens. By way of example, the optional transfer device can haveone or a plurality of lenses and/or one or a plurality of convex and/orconcave mirrors. Once again alternatively or additionally, the transferdevice can have at least one wavelength-selective element, for exampleat least one optical filter. Once again alternatively or additionally,the transfer device can be designed to impress a predefined beam profileon the electromagnetic radiation, for example, at the location of thesensor region and in particular the sensor area. The abovementionedoptional embodiments of the optional transfer device can, in principle,be realized individually or in any desired combination.

Further, generally, it shall be noted that, in the context of thepresent invention, an optical sensor may refer to an arbitrary elementwhich is designed to convert at least one optical signal into adifferent signal form, preferably into at least one electrical signal,for example a voltage signal and/or a current signal. In particular theoptical sensor can comprise at least one optical-electrical converterelement, preferably at least one photodiode and/or at least one solarcell. As is explained in even greater detail below, in the context ofthe present invention, preference is attached particularly to a use ofat least one organic optical sensor, that is to say an optical sensorwhich comprises at least one organic material, for example at least oneorganic semiconductor material.

In the context of the present invention, a sensor region should beunderstood to mean a two-dimensional or three-dimensional region whichpreferably, but not necessarily, is continuous and can form a continuousregion, wherein the sensor region is designed to vary at least onemeasurable property, in a manner dependent on the illumination. By wayof example, said at least one property can comprise an electricalproperty, for example, by the sensor region being designed to generate,solely or in interaction with other elements of the optical sensor, aphoto voltage and/or a photocurrent and/or some other type of signal. Inparticular, the sensor region can be embodied in such a way that itgenerates a uniform, preferably a single, signal in a manner dependenton the illumination of the sensor region. The sensor region can thus bethe smallest unit of the optical sensor for which a uniform signal, forexample, an electrical signal, is generated, which preferably can nolonger be subdivided to partial signals, for example for partial regionsof the sensor region. The transversal optical sensor and/or thelongitudinal optical sensor each can have one or else a plurality ofsuch sensor regions, the latter case for example by a plurality of suchsensor regions being arranged in a two-dimensional and/orthree-dimensional matrix arrangement.

The at least one sensor region can comprise for example at least onesensor area, that is to say a sensor region whose lateral extentconsiderably exceeds the thickness of the sensor region, for example byat least a factor of 10, preferably by at least a factor of 100 andparticularly preferably by at least a factor of 1000. Examples of suchsensor areas can be found in organic or inorganic photovoltaic elements,for example, in accordance with the prior art described above, or elsein accordance with the exemplary embodiments described in even greaterdetail below. The detector can have one or a plurality of such opticalsensors and/or sensor regions. By way of example, a plurality of opticalsensors can be arranged linearly in a spaced-apart manner or in atwo-dimensional arrangement or else in a three-dimensional arrangement,for example by a stack of photovoltaic elements being used, preferablyorganic photovoltaic elements, preferably a stack in which the sensorareas of the photovoltaic elements are arranged parallel to one another.Other embodiments are also possible.

The optional transfer device can, as explained above, be designed tofeed light propagating from the object to the detector to thetransversal optical sensor and/or the longitudinal optical sensor,preferably successively. As explained above, this feeding can optionallybe effected by means of imaging or else by means of non-imagingproperties of the transfer device. In particular the transfer device canalso be designed to collect the electromagnetic radiation before thelatter is fed to the transversal and/or longitudinal optical sensor. Theoptional transfer device can also, as explained in even greater detailbelow, be wholly or partly a constituent part of at least one optionalillumination source, for example by the illumination source beingdesigned to provide a light beam having defined optical properties, forexample having a defined or precisely known beam profile, for example atleast one Gaussian beam, in particular at least one laser beam having aknown beam profile.

For potential embodiments of the optional illumination source, referencemay be made to WO 2012/110924 A1. Still, other embodiments are feasible.Light emerging from the object can originate in the object itself, butcan also optionally have a different origin and propagate from thisorigin to the object and subsequently toward the transversal and/orlongitudinal optical sensor. The latter case can be effected for exampleby at least one illumination source being used. This illumination sourcecan for example be or comprise an ambient light source and/or may be ormay comprise an artificial illumination source. By way of example, thedetector itself can comprise at least one illumination source, forexample at least one laser and/or at least one incandescent lamp and/orat least one semiconductor light source, for example, at least onelight-emitting diode, in particular an organic and/or inorganiclight-emitting diode. On account of their generally defined beamprofiles and other properties of handleability, the use of one or aplurality of lasers as illumination source or as part thereof, isparticularly preferred. The illumination source itself can be aconstituent part of the detector or else be formed independently of thedetector. The illumination source can be integrated in particular intothe detector, for example a housing of the detector. Alternatively oradditionally, at least one illumination source can also be integratedinto the object or connected or spatially coupled to the object.

The light emerging from the object can accordingly, alternatively oradditionally from the option that said light originates in the objectitself emerge from the illumination source and/or be excited by theillumination source. By way of example, the electromagnetic lightemerging from the object can be emitted by the object itself and/or bereflected by the object and/or be scattered by the object before it isfed to the optical sensor. In this case, emission and/or scattering ofthe electromagnetic radiation can be effected without spectralinfluencing of the electromagnetic radiation or with such influencing.Thus, by way of example, a wavelength shift can also occur duringscattering, for example according to Stokes or Raman. Furthermore,emission of light can be excited, for example, by a primary lightsource, for example by the object or a partial region of the objectbeing excited to effect luminescence, in particular phosphorescenceand/or fluorescence. Other emission processes are also possible, inprinciple. If a reflection occurs, then the object can have for exampleat least one reflective region, in particular at least one reflectivesurface. Said reflective surface can be a part of the object itself, butcan also be for example a reflector which is connected or spatiallycoupled to the object, for example a reflector plaque connected to theobject. If at least one reflector is used, then it can in turn also beregarded as part of the detector which is connected to the object, forexample, independently of other constituent parts of the detector.

The at least one illumination source of the detector can generally beadapted to the emission and/or reflective properties of the object, forexample in terms of its wavelength. Various embodiments are possible.

The at least one optional illumination source generally may emit lightin at least one of: the ultraviolet spectral range, preferably in therange of 200 nm to 380 nm; the visible spectral range (380 nm to 780nm); the infrared spectral range, preferably in the range of 780 nm to3.0 micrometers. Most preferably, the at least one illumination sourceis adapted to emit light in the visible spectral range, preferably inthe range of 500 nm to 780 nm, most preferably at 650 nm to 750 nm or at690 nm to 700 nm.

The feeding of the light to the transversal and/or longitudinal opticalsensor can be effected in particular in such a way that a light spot,for example having a round, oval or differently configured crosssection, is produced on the optional sensor area of the transversaland/or longitudinal optical sensor. By way of example, the detector canhave a visual range, in particular a solid angle range and/or spatialrange, within which objects can be detected. Preferably, the optionaltransfer device is designed in such a way that the light spot, forexample in the case of an object arranged within a visual range of thedetector, is arranged completely on the sensor region, in particular thesensor area. By way of example, a sensor area can be chosen to have acorresponding size in order to ensure this condition.

The at least one longitudinal optical sensor, as outlined above, can bedesigned for example in such a way that the longitudinal sensor signal,given the same power of the illumination, that is to say for examplegiven the same integral over the intensity of the illumination on thesensor area, is dependent on the geometry of the illumination, that isto say for example on the diameter and/or the equivalent diameter forthe sensor spot. By way of example, the longitudinal optical sensor canbe designed in such a way that upon a doubling of the beam cross sectiongiven the same total power, a signal variation occurs by at least afactor of 3, preferably by at least a factor of 4, in particular afactor of 5 or even a factor of 10. This condition can hold true forexample for a specific focusing range, for example for at least onespecific beam cross section. Thus, by way of example, the longitudinalsensor signal can have, between at least one optimum focusing at whichthe signal can have for example at least one global or local maximum anda focusing outside said at least one optimum focusing, a signaldifference by at least a factor of 3, preferably by at least a factor of4, in particular a factor of 5 or even a factor of 10. In particular,the longitudinal sensor signal can have as a function of the geometry ofthe illumination, for example of the diameter or equivalent diameter ofa light spot, at least one pronounced maximum, for example with a boostby at least a factor of 3, particularly preferably by at least a factorof 4 and particularly preferably by at least a factor of 10.Consequently, the longitudinal optical sensor may be based on theabove-mentioned FiP-effect, which is disclosed in great detail in WO2012/110924 A1. Thus, specifically in sDSCs, the focusing of the lightbeam may play a decisive role, i.e. the cross-section or cross-sectionalarea on which a certain number of auf photons (nph) is incident. Themore tightly the light beam is focused, i.e. the smaller itscross-section, the higher the photo current may be. The term ‘FiP’expresses the relationship between the cross-section ϕ (Fi) of theincident beam and the solar cell's power (P).

The at least one longitudinal optical sensor is combined with at leastone transversal optical sensor in order to preferably provideappropriate position information of the object.

Such effects of the dependence of the at least one longitudinal sensorsignal on a beam geometry, preferably a beam cross-section of the atleast one light beam, were observed in the context of the investigationsleading to the present invention in particular in the case of organicphotovoltaic components, that is to say photovoltaic components, forexample, solar cells, which comprise at least one organic material, forexample at least one organic p-semiconducting material and/or at leastone organic dye. By way of example, such effects, as is explained ineven greater detail below by way of example, were observed in the caseof dye solar cells, that is to say components which have at least onefirst electrode, at least one n-semiconducting metal oxide, at least onedye, at least one p-semiconducting organic material, preferably a solidorganic p-type semiconductor, and at least one second electrode. Suchdye solar cells, preferably solid dye solar cells (solid dye sensitizedsolar cells, sDSC), are known in principle in numerous variations fromthe literature. The described effect of the dependence of the sensorsignal on a geometry of the illumination on the sensor area and a use ofthis effect have not, however, been described heretofore.

In particular, the at least one longitudinal optical sensor can bedesigned in such a way that the sensor signal, given the same totalpower of the illumination, is substantially independent of a size of thesensor region, in particular of a size of the sensor area, in particularas long as the light spot of the illumination lies completely within thesensor region, in particular the sensor area. Consequently, thelongitudinal sensor signal can be dependent exclusively on a focusing ofthe electromagnetic rays on the sensor area. In particular the sensorsignal can be embodied in such a way that a photocurrent and/or a photovoltage per sensor area have/has the same values given the sameillumination, for example the same values given the same size of thelight spot.

The evaluation device can comprise in particular at least one dataprocessing device, in particular an electronic data processing device,which can be designed to generate the at least one item of informationon the transversal position of the object by evaluating the at least onetransversal sensor signal and to generate the at least one item ofinformation on the longitudinal position of the object by evaluating theat least one longitudinal sensor signal. Thus, the evaluation device isdesigned to use the at least one transversal sensor signal and the atleast one longitudinal sensor signal as input variables and to generatethe items of information on the transversal position and thelongitudinal position of the object by processing these input variables.The processing can be done in parallel, subsequently or even in acombined manner. The evaluation device may use an arbitrary process forgenerating these items of information, such as by calculation and/orusing at least one stored and/or known relationship. Besides the atleast one transversal sensor signal and at least one longitudinal sensorsignal, one or a plurality of further parameters and/or items ofinformation can influence said relationship, for example at least oneitem of information about a modulation frequency. The relationship canbe determined or determinable empirically, analytically or elsesemi-empirically. Particularly preferably, the relationship comprises atleast one calibration curve, at least one set of calibration curves, atleast one function or a combination of the possibilities mentioned. Oneor a plurality of calibration curves can be stored for example in theform of a set of values and the associated function values thereof, forexample in a data storage device and/or a table. Alternatively oradditionally, however, the at least one calibration curve can also bestored for example in parameterized form and/or as a functionalequation. Separate relationships for processing the at least onetransversal sensor signal into the at least one item of information onthe transversal position and for processing the at least onelongitudinal sensor signal into the at least one item of information onthe longitudinal position may be used. Alternatively, at least onecombined relationship for processing the sensor signals is feasible.Various possibilities are conceivable and can also be combined.

By way of example, the evaluation device can be designed in terms ofprogramming for the purpose of determining the items of information. Theevaluation device can comprise in particular at least one computer, forexample at least one microcomputer. Furthermore, the evaluation devicecan comprise one or a plurality of volatile or nonvolatile datamemories. As an alternative or in addition to a data processing device,in particular at least one computer, the evaluation device can compriseone or a plurality of further electronic components which are designedfor determining the items of information, for example an electronictable and in particular at least one look-up table and/or at least oneapplication-specific integrated circuit (ASIC).

The combination of the at least one item of information on thetransversal position and the at least one item of information on thelongitudinal position allows for a multiplicity of possible uses of thedetector, which will be described by way of example hereinafter. Asoutlined in great detail in WO 2012/110924 A1, a cross-section of thelight beam, resulting in a specific diameter or equivalent diameter of alight spot on the sensor region of the at least one longitudinal opticalsensor, can be dependent on a distance between the object and thedetector and/or on the optional transfer device of the detector, forexample at least one detector lens. By way of example, a variation ofthe distance between the object and a lens of the optional transferdevice can lead to a defocusing of the illumination on the sensorregion, accompanied by a change in the geometry of the illumination, forexample a widening of a light spot, which can result in acorrespondingly altered longitudinal sensor signal or a multiplicity ofaltered longitudinal sensor signals, in case a plurality of longitudinaloptical sensors is used. Even without a transfer device, by way ofexample, from a known beam profile from the sensor signal and/or avariation thereof, for example, by means of a known beam profile and/ora known propagation of the light beam, it is possible to deduce adefocusing and/or the geometrical information. By way of example, givena known total power of the illumination, it is thus possible to deducefrom the longitudinal sensor signal of the longitudinal optical sensor ageometry of the illumination and therefrom in turn the geometricalinformation, in particular at least one item of location information ofthe object.

Similarly, the at least one transversal optical sensor allows for aneasy detection of a transversal position of the object. For thispurpose, use may be made of the fact that a change in a transversalposition of the object generally will lead to a change in a transversalposition of the light beam in the sensor region of the at least onetransversal optical sensor. Thus, for example by detecting a transversalposition of a light spot generated by the light beam impinging on asensor region, such as a sensor area, of the transversal optical sensor,the transversal position or at least one item of information on thetransversal position of the object may be generated. Thus, the positionof the light spot may be determined by comparing currents and/or voltagesignals of partial electrodes of the transversal optical sensor, such asby forming at least one ratio of at least two currents through at leasttwo different partial electrodes. For this measurement principle, as anexample, reference may be made to U.S. Pat. No. 6,995,445 and/or US2007/0176165 A1. The above-mentioned at least one relationship betweenthe at least one transversal sensor signal and the at least one item ofinformation on the transversal position of the object may include aknown relationship between a transversal position of the light spot on asensor region of the transversal optical sensor and a transversalposition of the object. For this purpose, known imaging properties ofthe detector, specifically known imaging properties of at least onetransfer device of the detector, may be used. Thus, as an example, thetransfer device may include at least one lens, and the known imagingproperties may make use of a known lens equation of the lens, therebyallowing for a transformation of at least one transversal coordinate ofa light spot into at least one transversal coordinate of the object, asthe skilled person will recognize. Therein, the known relationship mayalso make use of additional information, such as the at least onelongitudinal sensor signal and/or the at least one item of informationon the longitudinal position of the object. Thus, by using the at leastone longitudinal sensor signal, the evaluation device may, as anexample, first determine at least one item of information on a lateralposition of the object, such as at least one distance between the objectand the detector, specifically the transfer device and, more preferably,at least one lens of the transfer device. This item of information onthe longitudinal position of the object may then be used in the lensequation in order to transform the at least one transversal sensorsignal into the at least one item of information on the transversalposition of the object, such as by transforming the at least onetransversal coordinate of the light spot in the sensor region of the atleast one transversal optical sensor into at least one transversalcoordinate of the object. Other algorithms are feasible.

As outlined above, the total intensity of total power of the light beamis often unknown, since this total power e.g. may depend on theproperties of the object, such as reflecting properties, and/or maydepend on a total power of an illumination source and/or may depend on alarge number of environmental conditions. Since the above-mentionedknown relationship between the at least one longitudinal optical sensorsignal and a beam cross-section of the light beam in the at least onesensor region of the at least one longitudinal optical sensor and, thus,a known relationship between the at least one longitudinal opticalsensor signal and the at least one item of information on thelongitudinal position of the object may depend on the total power oftotal intensity of the light beam, various ways of overcoming thisuncertainty are feasible. Thus, as outlined in great detail in WO2012/110924 A1, a plurality of longitudinal sensor signals may bedetected by the same longitudinal optical sensor, such as by usingdifferent modulation frequencies of an illumination of the object. Thus,at least two longitudinal sensor signals may be acquired at differentfrequencies of a modulation of the illumination, wherein, from the atleast two sensor signals, for example by comparison with correspondingcalibration curves, it is possible to deduce the total power and/or thegeometry of the illumination, and/or therefrom, directly or indirectly,to deduce the at least one item of information on the longitudinalposition of the object.

Additionally or alternatively, however, as outlined above, the detectormay comprise a plurality of longitudinal optical sensors, eachlongitudinal optical sensor being adapted to generate at least onelongitudinal sensor signal. The longitudinal sensor signals generated bythe longitudinal optical sensors may be compared, in order to gaininformation on the total power and/or intensity of the light beam and/orin order to normalize the longitudinal sensor signals and/or the atleast one item of information on the longitudinal position of the objectfor the total power and/or total intensity of the light beam. Thus, asan example, a maximum value of the longitudinal optical sensor signalsmay be detected, and all longitudinal sensor signals may be divided bythis maximum value, thereby generating normalized longitudinal opticalsensor signals, which, then, may be transformed by using theabove-mentioned known relationship, into the at least one item oflongitudinal information on the object. Other ways of normalization arefeasible, such as a normalization using a mean value of the longitudinalsensor signals and dividing all longitudinal sensor signals by the meanvalue. Other options are possible. Each of these options is suited torender the transformation independent from the total power and/orintensity of the light beam. In addition, information on the total powerand/or intensity of the light beam might be generated.

The detector described can advantageously be developed in various ways.Thus, the detector can furthermore have at least one modulation devicefor modulating the illumination, in particular for periodic modulation,in particular a periodic beam interrupting device. A modulation of theillumination should be understood to mean a process in which a totalpower of the illumination is varied, preferably periodically, inparticular with one or a plurality of modulation frequencies. Inparticular, a periodic modulation can be effected between a maximumvalue and a minimum value of the total power of the illumination. Theminimum value can be 0, but can also be >0, such that, by way ofexample, complete modulation does not have to be effected. Themodulation can be effected for example in a beam path between the objectand the optical sensor, for example by the at least one modulationdevice being arranged in said beam path. Alternatively or additionally,however, the modulation can also be effected in a beam path between anoptional illumination source—described in even greater detail below—forilluminating the object and the object, for example by the at least onemodulation device being arranged in said beam path. A combination ofthese possibilities is also conceivable. The at least one modulationdevice can comprise for example a beam chopper or some other type ofperiodic beam interrupting device, for example comprising at least oneinterrupter blade or interrupter wheel, which preferably rotates atconstant speed and which can thus periodically interrupt theillumination. Alternatively or additionally, however, it is alsopossible to use one or a plurality of different types of modulationdevices, for example modulation devices based on an electro-opticaleffect and/or an acousto-optical effect. Once again alternatively oradditionally, the at least one optional illumination source itself canalso be designed to generate a modulated illumination, for example bysaid illumination source itself having a modulated intensity and/ortotal power, for example a periodically modulated total power, and/or bysaid illumination source being embodied as a pulsed illumination source,for example as a pulsed laser. Thus, by way of example, the at least onemodulation device can also be wholly or partly integrated into theillumination source. Various possibilities are conceivable.

The detector can be designed in particular to detect at least two sensorsignals in the case of different modulations, in particular at least twosensor signals at respectively different modulation frequencies. Theevaluation device can be designed to generate the geometricalinformation from the at least two sensor signals. As described above, inthis way, by way of example, it is possible to resolve ambiguitiesand/or it is possible to take account of the fact that, for example, atotal power of the illumination is generally unknown.

Further possible embodiments of the detector relate to the embodiment ofthe at least one optional transfer device. As explained above, said atleast one transfer device can have imaging properties or else can beembodied as a pure non-imaging transfer device, which has no influenceon a focusing of the illumination. It is particularly preferred,however, if the transfer device has at least one imaging element, forexample at least one lens and/or at least one curved mirror, since, inthe case of such imaging elements, for example, a geometry of theillumination on the sensor region can be dependent on a relativepositioning, for example a distance, between the transfer device and theobject. Generally, it is particularly preferred if the transfer deviceis designed in such a way that the electromagnetic radiation whichemerges from the object is transferred completely to the sensor region,for example is focused completely onto the sensor region, in particularthe sensor area, in particular if the object is arranged in a visualrange of the detector.

As explained above, the optical sensor can furthermore be designed insuch a way that the sensor signal, given the same total power of theillumination, is dependent on a modulation frequency of a modulation ofthe illumination. The detector can be embodied, in particular, asexplained above, in such a way that sensor signals at differentmodulation frequencies are picked up, for example in order to generateone or a plurality of further items of information about the object. Asdescribed above, by way of example, a sensor signal at at least twodifferent modulation frequencies can, in each case, be picked up,wherein, by way of example, in this way, a lack of information about atotal power of the illumination can be supplemented. By way of example,by comparing the at least two sensor signals picked up at differentmodulation frequencies with one or a plurality of calibration curves,which can be stored for example in a data storage device of thedetector, even in the case of an unknown total power of theillumination, it is possible to deduce a geometry of the illumination,for example a diameter or an equivalent diameter of a light spot on thesensor area. For this purpose, by way of example, it is possible to usethe at least one evaluation device described above, for example at leastone data processing data, which can be designed to control suchpicking-up of sensor signals at different frequencies and which can bedesigned to compare said sensor signals with the at least onecalibration curve in order to generate therefrom the geometricalinformation, for example information about a geometry of theillumination, for example information about a diameter or equivalentdiameter of a light spot of the illumination on a sensor area of theoptical sensor. Furthermore, as is explained in even greater detailbelow, the evaluation device can alternatively or additionally bedesigned to generate at least one item of geometrical information aboutthe object, for example at least one item of location information. Thisgeneration of the at least one item of geometrical information, asexplained above, can be effected for example taking account of at leastone known relationship between a positioning of the object relative tothe detector and/or the transfer device or a part thereof and a size ofa light spot, for example empirically, semi-empirically or analyticallyusing corresponding imaging equations.

In contrast to known detectors, in which a spatial resolution and/orimaging of objects is also generally tied to the fact that the smallestpossible sensor areas are used, for example the smallest possible pixelsin the case of CCD chips, the sensor region of the proposed detector canbe embodied in a very large fashion, in principle, since for example thegeometrical information, in particular the at least one item of locationinformation, about the object can be generated from a known relationshipfor example between the geometry of the illumination and the sensorsignal. Accordingly, the sensor region can have for example a sensorarea, for example an optical sensor area, which is at least 0.001 mm²,in particular at least 0.01 mm², preferably at least 0.1 mm², morepreferably at least 1 mm², more preferably at least 5 mm², morepreferably at least 10 mm², in particular at least 100 mm² or at least1000 mm² or even at least 10 000 mm². In particular, sensor areas of 100cm² or more can be used. The sensor area can generally be adapted to theapplication. In particular, the sensor area should be chosen in such away that, at least if the object is situated within a visual range ofthe detector, preferably within a predefined viewing angle and/or apredefined distance from the detector, the light spot is always arrangedwithin the sensor area. In this way, it can be ensured that the lightspot is not trimmed by the limits of the sensor region, as a result ofwhich signal corruption could occur.

As described above, the sensor region can be in particular a continuoussensor region, in particular a continuous sensor area, which canpreferably generate a uniform, in particular a single, sensor signal.Consequently, the sensor signal can be in particular a uniform sensorsignal for the entire sensor region, that is to say a sensor signal towhich each partial region of the sensor region contributes, for exampleadditively. The sensor signal can generally, as explained above, inparticular be selected from the group consisting of a photocurrent and aphoto voltage.

The optical sensor can comprise in particular at least one semiconductordetector and/or be at least one semiconductor detector. In particular,the optical sensor can comprise at least one organic semiconductordetector or be at least one organic semiconductor detector, that is tosay a semiconductor detector comprising at least one organicsemiconducting material and/or at least one organic sensor material, forexample at least one organic dye. Preferably, the organic semiconductordetector can comprise at least one organic solar cell and particularlypreferably a dye solar cell, in particular a solid dye solar cell.Exemplary embodiments of such preferred solid dye solar cells areexplained in even greater detail below.

In particular, the optical sensor can comprise at least one firstelectrode, at least one n-semiconducting metal oxide, at least one dye,at least one p-semiconducting organic material, preferably at least onesolid p-semiconducting organic material, and at least one secondelectrode. Generally, however, it is pointed out that the describedeffect in which the sensor signal, given a constant total power, isdependent on a geometry of the illumination of the sensor region is withhigh probability not restricted to organic solar cells and in particularnot to dye solar cells. Without intending to restrict the scope ofprotection of the invention by this theory, and without the inventionbeing bound to the correctness of this theory, it is supposed thatgenerally photovoltaic elements are suitable as optical sensors in whichat least one semiconducting material having trap states is used.Consequently, the optical sensor can comprise at least onen-semiconducting material and/or at least one p-semiconducting materialwhich can have for example a conduction band and a valence band,wherein, in the case of organic materials, conduction band and valenceband should correspondingly be replaced by LUMO (lowest unoccupiedmolecular orbital) and HOMO (highest occupied molecular orbital). Trapstates should be understood to mean energetically possible states whichare disposed between the conduction band (or LUMO) and the valence band(or HOMO) and which can be occupied by charge carriers. By way ofexample, it is possible to provide trap states for hole conduction whichare disposed at at least one distance ΔE_(h) above the valence band (orHOMO) and/or trap states for electron conduction which are disposed atat least one distance ΔE_(e) below the conduction band (or LUMO). Suchtraps can be achieved for example by impurities and/or defects, whichcan optionally also be introduced in a targeted manner, or can bepresent intrinsically. By way of example, in the case of a lowintensity, that is to say for example in the case of a light spot havinga large diameter, only a low current can flow, since firstly the trapstates are occupied before holes in the conduction band or electrons inthe valence band contribute to a photocurrent. It is only starting froma higher intensity, that is to say for example starting from a moreintense focusing of the light spot in the sensor region, that aconsiderable photocurrent can then flow. The described frequencydependence can be explained for example by the fact that charge carriersleave the traps again after a residence duration τ, such that thedescribed effect occurs only in the case of modulated illumination witha high modulation frequency.

By way of example, the detector can be designed to bring about amodulation of the illumination of the object and/or at least one sensorregion of the detector, such as at least one sensor region of the atleast one longitudinal optical sensor, with a frequency of 0.05 Hz to 1MHz, such as 0.1 Hz to 10 kHz. As outlined above, for this purpose, thedetector may comprise at least one modulation device, which may beintegrated into the at least one optional illumination source and/or maybe independent from the illumination source. Thus, at least oneillumination source might, by itself, be adapted to generate theabove-mentioned modulation of the illumination, and/or at least oneindependent modulation device may be present, such as at least onechopper and/or at least one device having a modulated transmissibility,such as at least one electro-optical device and/or at least oneacousto-optical device.

The above-mentioned trap states can be present for example with adensity of 10⁻⁵ to 10⁻¹, relative to the n-semiconducting materialand/or the p-semiconducting material and/or the dye. The energydifferences ΔE with respect to the conduction band and with respect tothe valence band can be in particular 0.05-0.3 eV.

The detector has, as described above, at least one evaluation device. Inparticular, the at least one evaluation device can also be designed tocompletely or partly control or drive the detector, for example by theevaluation device being designed to control one or a plurality ofmodulation devices of the detector and/or to control at least oneillumination source of the detector. The evaluation device can bedesigned, in particular, to carry out at least one measurement cycle inwhich one or a plurality of sensor signals, such as a plurality oflongitudinal sensor signals, are picked up, for example a plurality ofsensor signals of successively at different modulation frequencies ofthe illumination.

However, unlike in conventional semiconductor devices in which, e.g. theabsorption of incident light may occur in a p-type conductor, theabsorption of incident light in the present detector may be spatiallyseparated from the movement of the charge carriers in dye sensitizedsolar cells (DSCs), where incident light may cause the light-absorbingorganic dye to switch into an excited state such as Frenkel excitons,i.e. excited, strongly bound electron-hole pairs. As long as the energylevels of both the p-type conductor and the n-type conductor arewell-matched to the energy states of the excited light-absorbing organicdye, the excitons may be separated and, thus, the electrons and theholes may travel through the n-type and the p-type conductor,respectively, to the appropriate contact electrodes. Hereby, the movingcharge carriers may be majority charge carriers, i.e. in the n-typeconductor electrons, in the p-type conductor holes are traveling. Sincethe light-absorbing organic dye itself is a non-conducting substance, aneffective charge transport may depend on an extent to which molecules ofthe light-absorbing organic dye are in close contact with both thep-type conductor and the n-type conductor. For potential details ofDSCs, reference may be made e.g. to U. Bach, M. Grätzel, D. Lupo, P.Comte, J. E. Moser, F. Weissörtel, J. Salbeck, and H. Spreitzer.“Solid-state dye-sensitized mesoporous TiO2 solar cells with highproton-to-electron conversion efficiencies”. Nature, Vol. 395, no. 6702,pp. 583-585, 1998.

As described above, when light falls on the cell, it may be absorbed bythe light-absorbing organic dye and an exciton may be created. If theenergy of the absorbed photons is greater than an energy gap between thehighest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) and the lowest unoccupiedmolecular orbital (LUMO) of the light-absorbing organic dye, an electronof the HOMO may be raised to the LUMO of the photoexcited dye and chargeseparation may take place at the boundary between the dye and thesemiconductor which nanoporous titanium dioxide. From there, theelectron may travel within femtoseconds to picoseconds further into theconduction band of nanoporous titanium dioxide. Preferably, the energylevel of the excited state is matched to the lower limit of theconduction band of the titanium dioxide in order to minimize energylosses during electron transition and the LUMO level should extendsufficiently beyond the lower limit of the conduction band of thetitanium dioxide. The oxidation potential of the hole conductor shouldextend over the HOMO level of the dye allowing it to transport away theholes of the excited dye. If a load is connected in an external circuit,a current may flow across the titanium dioxide and the anode. Thereduced dye may be regenerated through electron donation by the organicp-type conductor to the dye, which may prevent recombination of theelectrons from the conduction band of the titanium dioxide with theoxidised dye. The p-type conductor, in turn, may be regenerated throughthe counter-electrode, which may ensure a constant conversion of energyfrom incident light into electrical energy without requiring a permanentchemical change.

The evaluation device is designed, as described above, to generate atleast one item of information on a transversal position of the object byevaluating the transversal sensor signal and to generate at least oneitem of information on a longitudinal position of the object byevaluating the longitudinal sensor signal.

Said position of the object can be static or may even comprise at leastone movement of the object, for example a relative movement between thedetector or parts thereof and the object or parts thereof. In this case,a relative movement can generally comprise at least one linear movementand/or at least one rotational movement. Items of movement informationcan for example also be obtained by comparison of at least two items ofinformation picked up at different times, such that for example at leastone item of location information can also comprise at least one item ofvelocity information and/or at least one item of accelerationinformation, for example at least one item of information about at leastone relative velocity between the object or parts thereof and thedetector or parts thereof. In particular, the at least one item oflocation information can generally be selected from: an item ofinformation about a distance between the object or parts thereof and thedetector or parts thereof, in particular an optical path length; an itemof information about a distance or an optical distance between theobject or parts thereof and the optional transfer device or partsthereof, an item of information about a positioning of the object orparts thereof relative to the detector or parts thereof; an item ofinformation about an orientation of the object and/or parts thereofrelative to the detector or parts thereof; an item of information abouta relative movement between the object or parts thereof and the detectoror parts thereof; an item of information about a two-dimensional orthree-dimensional spatial configuration of the object or of partsthereof, in particular a geometry or form of the object. Generally, theat least one item of location information can therefore be selected forexample from the group consisting of: an item of information about atleast one location of the object or at least one part thereof;information about at least one orientation of the object or a partthereof; an item of information about a geometry or form of the objector of a part thereof, an item of information about a velocity of theobject or of a part thereof, an item of information about anacceleration of the object or of a part thereof, an item of informationabout a presence or absence of the object or of a part thereof in avisual range of the detector.

The at least one item of location information can be specified forexample in at least one coordinate system, for example a coordinatesystem in which the detector or parts thereof rest. Alternatively oradditionally, the location information can also simply comprise forexample a distance between the detector or parts thereof and the objector parts thereof. Combinations of the possibilities mentioned are alsoconceivable.

As outlined above, the detector may comprise at least one illuminationsource. The illumination source can be embodied in various ways. Thus,the illumination source can be for example part of the detector in adetector housing. Alternatively or additionally, however, the at leastone illumination source can also be arranged outside a detector housing,for example as a separate light source. The illumination source can bearranged separately from the object and illuminate the object from adistance. Alternatively or additionally, the illumination source canalso be connected to the object or even be part of the object, suchthat, by way of example, the electromagnetic radiation emerging from theobject can also be generated directly by the illumination source. By wayof example, at least one illumination source can be arranged on and/orin the object and directly generate the electromagnetic radiation bymeans of which the sensor region is illuminated. By way of example, atleast one infrared emitter and/or at least one emitter for visible lightand/or at least one emitter for ultraviolet light can be arranged on theobject. By way of example, at least one light emitting diode and/or atleast one laser diode can be arranged on and/or in the object. Theillumination source can comprise in particular one or a plurality of thefollowing illumination sources: a laser, in particular a laser diode,although in principle, alternatively or additionally, other types oflasers can also be used; a light emitting diode; an incandescent lamp;an organic light source, in particular an organic light emitting diode.Alternatively or additionally, other illumination sources can also beused. It is particularly preferred if the illumination source isdesigned to generate one or more light beams having a Gaussian beamprofile, as is at least approximately the case for example in manylasers. However, other embodiments are also possible, in principle.

As outlined above, a further aspect of the present invention proposes ahuman-machine interface for exchanging at least one item of informationbetween a user and a machine. A human-machine interface should generallybe understood to mean a device by means of which such information can beexchanged. The machine can comprise in particular a data processingdevice. The at least one item of information can generally comprise forexample data and/or control commands. Thus, the human-machine interfacecan be designed in particular for the inputting of control commands bythe user.

The human-machine interface has at least one detector in accordance withone or a plurality of the embodiments described above. The human-machineinterface is designed to generate at least one item of geometricalinformation of the user by means of the detector wherein thehuman-machine interface is designed to assign to the geometricalinformation at least one item of information, in particular at least onecontrol command. By way of example, said at least one item ofgeometrical information can be or comprise an item of locationinformation and/or position information and/or orientation informationabout a body and/or at least one body part of the user, for example anitem of location information about a hand posture and/or a posture ofsome other body part of the user.

In this case, the term user should be interpreted broadly and can forexample also encompass one or a plurality of articles directlyinfluenced by the user. Thus, the user can for example also wear one ora plurality of gloves and/or other garments, wherein the geometricalinformation is at least one item of geometrical information of this atleast one garment. By way of example, such garments can be embodied asreflective to a primary radiation emerging from at least oneillumination source, for example by the use of one or a plurality ofreflectors. Once again alternatively or additionally, the user can forexample spatially move one or a plurality of articles whose geometricalinformation can be detected, which is likewise also intended to besubsumable under generation of at least one item of geometricalinformation of the user. By way of example, the user can move at leastone reflective rod and/or some other type of article, for example bymeans of said user's hand.

The at least one item of geometrical information can be static, that isto say can for example once again comprise a snapshot, but can also forexample once again comprise a series of sequential items of geometricalinformation and/or at least one movement. By way of example, at leasttwo items of geometrical information picked up at different times can becompared, such that, by way of example, the at least one item ofgeometrical information can also comprise at least one item ofinformation about a velocity and/or an acceleration of a movement.Accordingly, the at least one item of geometrical information can forexample comprise at least one item of information about at least onebody posture and/or about at least one movement of the user.

The human-machine interface is designed to assign to the geometricalinformation at least one item of information, in particular at least onecontrol command. As explained above, the term information should in thiscase be interpreted broadly and can comprise for example data and/orcontrol commands. By way of example, the human-machine interface can bedesigned to assign the at least one item of information to the at leastone item of geometrical information, for example by means of acorresponding assignment algorithm and/or a stored assignmentspecification. By way of example, a unique assignment between a set ofitems of geometrical information and corresponding items of informationcan be stored. In this way, for example by means of a corresponding bodyposture and/or movement of the user, an inputting of at least one itemof information can be effected.

Such human-machine interfaces can generally be used in the machinecontrol or else for example in virtual reality. By way of example,industrial controllers, manufacturing controllers, machine controllersin general, robot controllers, vehicle controllers or similarcontrollers can be made possible by means of the human-machine interfacehaving the one or the plurality of detectors. However, the use of such ahuman-machine interface in consumer electronics is particularlypreferred.

Accordingly, as outlined above, a further aspect of the presentinvention proposes an entertainment device for carrying out at least oneentertainment function, in particular a game. The entertainment functioncan comprise in particular at least one game function. By way ofexample, one or a plurality of games can be stored which can beinfluencable by a user, who in this context is also called a playerhereinafter. By way of example, the entertainment device can comprise atleast one display device, for example at least one screen and/or atleast one projector and/or at least one set of display spectacles.

The entertainment device furthermore comprises at least onehuman-machine interface in accordance with one or more of theembodiments described above. The entertainment device is designed toenable at least one item of information of a player to be input by meansof the human-machine interface. By way of example, the player, asdescribed above, can adopt or alter one or a plurality of body posturesfor this purpose. This includes the possibility of the player forexample using corresponding articles for this purpose, for examplegarments such as e.g. gloves, for example garments which are equippedwith one or a plurality of reflectors for reflecting the electromagneticradiation of the detector. The at least one item of information cancomprise for example, as explained above, one or a plurality of controlcommands. By way of example, in this way, changes in direction can beperformed, inputs can be confirmed, a selection can be made from a menu,specific game options can be initiated, movements can be influenced in avirtual space or similar instances of influencing or altering theentertainment function can be performed.

The above-described detector, the method, the human-machine interfaceand the entertainment device and also the proposed uses haveconsiderable advantages over the prior art. Thus, generally, a simpleand, still, efficient detector for determining a position of at leastone object in space may be provided. Therein, as an example,three-dimensional coordinates of an object or part of an object may bedetermined in a fast and efficient way. Specifically the combination ofthe at least one transversal optical sensor and the at least onelongitudinal optical sensor, which each may be designed in acost-efficient way, may lead to a compact, cost-efficient and, still,highly precise device. Both the at least one transversal optical sensorand the at least one longitudinal optical sensor preferably may fully orpartially be designed as organic photovoltaic devices, such as by usingdye-sensitized solar cells for each of these optical sensors, preferablysDSCs.

As compared to devices known in the art, which of them are based oncomplex triangulation methods, the detector as proposed provides a highdegree of simplicity, specifically with regard to an optical setup ofthe detector. Thus, in principle, a simple combination of one, two ormore sDSCs, preferably in combination with a suited transfer device,specifically a suited lens, and in conjunction with an appropriateevaluation device, is sufficient for high precision position detection.

This high degree of simplicity, in combination with the possibility ofhigh precision measurements, is specifically suited for machine control,such as in human-machine interfaces and, more preferably, in gaming.Thus, cost-efficient entertainment devices may be provided which may beused for a large number of gaming purposes.

Thus, as for the optical detectors and devices disclosed in WO2012/110924 A1 or in U.S. provisional applications 61/739,173, filed onDec. 19, 2012, and 61/749,964, filed on Jan. 8, 2013, the opticaldetector, the detector system, the human-machine interface, theentertainment device, the tracking system or the camera according to thepresent invention (in the following simply referred to as “the devicesaccording to the present invention” or “Fip-devices”) may be used for aplurality of application purposes, such as one or more of the purposesdisclosed in further detail in the following.

Thus, firstly, Fip-devices may be used in mobile phones, tabletcomputers, laptops, smart panels or other stationary or mobile computeror communication applications. Thus, Fip-devices may be combined with atleast one active light source, such as a light source emitting light inthe visible range or infrared spectral range, in order to enhanceperformance. Thus, as an example, Fip-devices may be used as camerasand/or sensors, such as in combination with mobile software for scanningenvironment, objects and living beings. Fip-devices may even be combinedwith 2D cameras, such as conventional cameras, in order to increaseimaging effects. Fip-devices may further be used for surveillance and/orfor recording purposes or as input devices to control mobile devices,especially in combination with gesture recognition. Thus, specifically,Fip-devices acting as human-machine interfaces, also referred to as FiPinput devices, may be used in mobile applications, such as forcontrolling other electronic devices or components via the mobiledevice, such as the mobile phone. As an example, the mobile applicationincluding at least one Fip-device may be used for controlling atelevision set, a game console, a music player or music device or otherentertainment devices.

Further, Fip-devices may be used in webcams or other peripheral devicesfor computing applications. Thus, as an example, Fip-devices may be usedin combination with software for imaging, recording, surveillance,scanning or motion detection. As outlined in the context of thehuman-machine interface and/or the entertainment device, Fip-devices areparticularly useful for giving commands by facial expressions and/orbody expressions. Fip-devices can be combined with other inputgenerating devices like e.g. mouse, keyboard, touchpad, etc. Further,Fip-devices may be used in applications for gaming, such as by using awebcam. Further, Fip-devices may be used in virtual trainingapplications and/or video conferences.

Further, Fip-devices may be used in mobile audio devices, televisiondevices and gaming devices, as partially explained above. Specifically,Fip-devices may be used as controls or control devices for electronicdevices, entertainment devices or the like. Further, Fip-devices may beused for eye detection or eye tracking, such as in 2D- and 3D-displaytechniques, especially with transparent displays for augmented realityapplications.

Further, Fip-devices may be used in or as digital cameras such as DSCcameras and/or in or as reflex cameras such as SLR cameras. For theseapplications, reference may be made to the use of Fip-devices in mobileapplications such as mobile phones, as disclosed above.

Further, Fip-devices may be used for security and surveillanceapplications. Specifically, Fip-devices may be used for opticalencryption. FiP-based detection can be combined with other detectiondevices to complement wavelengths, such as with IR, x-ray, UV-VIS, radaror ultrasound detectors. Fip-devices may further be combined with anactive infrared light source to allow detection in low lightsurroundings. Fip-devices such as FIP-based sensors are generallyadvantageous as compared to active detector systems, specifically sinceFip-devices avoid actively sending signals which may be detected bythird parties, as is the case e.g. in radar applications, ultrasoundapplications, LIDAR or similar active detector device is. Thus,generally, Fip-devices may be used for an unrecognized and undetectabletracking of moving objects. Additionally, Fip-devices generally are lessprone to manipulations and irritations as compared to conventionaldevices.

Further, given the ease and accuracy of 3D detection by usingFip-devices, Fip-devices generally may be used for facial, body andperson recognition and identification. Therein, Fip-devices may becombined with other detection means for identification orpersonalization purposes such as passwords, finger prints, irisdetection, voice recognition or other means. Thus, generally,Fip-devices may be used in security devices and other personalizedapplications.

Further, Fip-devices may be used as 3D-Barcode readers for productidentification.

In addition to the security and surveillance applications mentionedabove, Fip-devices generally can be used for surveillance and monitoringof spaces and areas. Thus, Fip-devices may be used for surveying andmonitoring spaces and areas and, as an example, for triggering orexecuting alarms in case prohibited areas are violated. Thus, generally,Fip-devices may be used for surveillance purposes in buildingsurveillance or museums, optionally in combination with other types ofsensors, such as in combination with motion or heat sensors, incombination with image intensifiers or image enhancement devices and/orphotomultipliers.

Further, Fip-devices may advantageously be applied in cameraapplications such as video and camcorder applications. Thus, Fip-devicesmay be used for motion capture and 3D-movie recording. Therein,Fip-devices generally provide a large number of advantages overconventional optical devices. Thus, Fip-devices generally require alower complexity with regard to optical components. Thus, as an example,the number of lenses may be reduced as compared to conventional opticaldevices, such as by providing Fip-devices having one lens only. Due tothe reduced complexity, very compact devices are possible, such as formobile use. Conventional optical systems having two or more lenses withhigh quality generally are voluminous, such as due to the general needfor voluminous beam-splitters. Further, Fip-devices generally may beused for focus/autofocus devices, such as autofocus cameras. Further,Fip-devices may also be used in optical microscopy, especially inconfocal microscopy.

Further, Fip-devices generally are applicable in the technical field ofautomotive technology and transport technology. Thus, as an example,Fip-devices may be used as distance and surveillance sensors, such asfor adaptive cruise control, emergency brake assist, lane departurewarning, surround view, blind spot detection, rear cross traffic alert,and other automotive and traffic applications. Therein, Fip-devices maybe used as standalone devices or in combination with other sensordevices, such as in combination with radar and/or ultrasonic devices.Specifically, Fip-devices may be used for autonomous driving and safetyissues. Further, in these applications, Fip-devices may be used incombination with infrared sensors, radar sensors, which are sonicsensors, two-dimensional cameras or other types of sensors. Advantage,in these applications, the generally passive nature of typicalFip-devices is advantageous. Thus, since Fip-devices generally do notrequire emitting signals, the risk of interference of active sensorsignals with other signal sources may be avoided. Fip-devicesspecifically may be used in combination with recognition software, suchas standard image recognition software. Thus, signals and data asprovide by Fip-devices typically are readily processable and, therefore,generally require lower calculation power than established stereovisionsystems such as LIDAR. Given the low space demand, Fip-devices such ascameras using the FiP-effect may be placed at virtually any place in avehicle, such as on a window screen, on a front hood, on bumpers, onlights, on mirrors or other places the like. Various detectors based onthe FiP-effect can be combined, such as in order to allow autonomouslydriving vehicles or in order to increase the performance of activesafety concepts. Thus, various FiP-based sensors may be combined withother Fip-based sensors and/or conventional sensors, such as in thewindows like rear window, side window or front window, on the bumpers oron the lights.

A combination of a FiP-sensor with one or more rain detection sensors isalso possible. This is due to the fact that Fip-devices generally areadvantageous over conventional sensor techniques such as radar,specifically during heavy rain. A combination of at least one Fip-devicewith at least one conventional sensing technique such as radar may allowfor a software to pick the right combination of signals according to theweather conditions.

Further, Fip-devices generally may be used as break assist and/orparking assist and/or for speed measurements. Speed measurements can beintegrated in the vehicle or may be used outside the vehicle, such as inorder to measure the speed of other cars in traffic control. Further,Fip-devices may be used for detecting free parking spaces in parkinglots.

Further, Fip-devices may be used is the fields of medical systems andsports. Thus, in the field of medical technology, surgery robotics, e.g.for use in endoscopes, may be named, since, as outlined above,Fip-devices may require a low volume only and may be integrated intoother devices. Specifically, Fip-devices having one lens, at most, maybe used for capturing 3D information in medical devices such as inendoscopes. Further, Fip-devices may be combined with an appropriatemonitoring software, in order to enable tracking and analysis ofmovements. These applications are specifically valuable e.g. in medicaltreatments and long-distance diagnosis and tele-medicine.

Further, Fip-devices may be applied in the field of sports andexercising, such as for training, remote instructions or competitionpurposes. Specifically, Fip-devices may be applied in the field ofdancing, aerobic, football, soccer, basketball, baseball, cricket,hockey, track and field, swimming, polo, handball, volleyball, rugby,sumo, judo, fencing, boxing etc. Fip-devices can be used to detect theposition of a ball, a bat, a sword, motions, etc., both in sports and ingames, such as to monitor the game, support the referee or for judgment,specifically automatic judgment, of specific situations in sports, suchas for judging whether a point or a goal actually was made.

FiP devices may further be used to support a practice of musicalinstruments, in particular remote lessons, for example lessons of stringinstruments, such as fiddles, violins, violas, celli, basses, harps,guitars, banjos, or ukuleles, keyboard instruments, such as pianos,organs, keyboards, harpsichords, harmoniums, or accordions, and/orpercussion instruments, such as drums, timpani, marimbas, xylophones,vibraphones, bongos, congas, timbales, djembes or tablas.

Fip-devices further may be used in rehabilitation and physiotherapy, inorder to encourage training and/or in order to survey and correctmovements. Therein, the Fip-devices may also be applied for distancediagnostics.

Further, Fip-devices may be applied in the field of machine vision.Thus, one or more Fip-devices may be used e.g. as a passive controllingunit for autonomous driving and or working of robots. In combinationwith moving robots, Fip-devices may allow for autonomous movement and/orautonomous detection of failures in parts. Fip-devices may also be usedfor manufacturing and safety surveillance, such as in order to avoidaccidents including but not limited to collisions between robots,production parts and living beings. Given the passive nature ofFip-devices, Fip-devices may be advantageous over active devices and/ormay be used complementary to existing solutions like radar, ultrasound,2D cameras, IR detection etc. One particular advantage of Fip-devices isthe low likelihood of signal interference. Therefore multiple sensorscan work at the same time in the same environment, without the risk ofsignal interference. Thus, Fip-devices generally may be useful in highlyautomated production environments like e.g. but not limited toautomotive, mining, steel, etc. Fip-devices can also be used for qualitycontrol in production, e.g. in combination with other sensors like 2-Dimaging, radar, ultrasound, IR etc., such as for quality control orother purposes. Further, Fip-devices may be used for assessment ofsurface quality, such as for surveying the surface evenness of a productor the adherence to specified dimensions, from the range of micrometersto the range of meters. Other quality control applications are feasible.

Further, Fip-devices may be used in the polls, airplanes, ships,spacecrafts and other traffic applications. Thus, besides theapplications mentioned above in the context of traffic applications,passive tracking systems for aircrafts, vehicles and the like may benamed. Detection devices based on the FiP-effect for monitoring thespeed and/or the direction of moving objects are feasible. Specifically,the tracking of fast moving objects on land, sea and in the airincluding space may be named. The at least one Fip-detector specificallymay be mounted on a still-standing and/or on a moving device. An outputsignal of the at least one Fip-device can be combined e.g. with aguiding mechanism for autonomous or guided movement of another object.Thus, applications for avoiding collisions or for enabling collisionsbetween the tracked and the steered object are feasible. Fip-devicesgenerally are useful and advantageous due to the low calculation powerrequired, the instant response and due to the passive nature of thedetection system which generally is more difficult to detect and todisturb as compared to active systems, like e.g. radar. Fip-devices areparticularly useful but not limited to e.g. speed control and airtraffic control devices.

Fip-devices generally may be used in passive applications. Passiveapplications include guidance for ships in harbors or in dangerousareas, and for aircrafts at landing or starting. Wherein, fixed, knownactive targets may be used for precise guidance. The same can be usedfor vehicles driving in dangerous but well defined routes, such asmining vehicles.

Further, as outlined above, Fip-devices may be used in the field ofgaming. Thus, Fip-devices can be passive for use with multiple objectsof the same or of different size, color, shape, etc., such as formovement detection in combination with software that incorporates themovement into its content. In particular, applications are feasible inimplementing movements into graphical output. Further, applications ofFip-devices for giving commands are feasible, such as by using one ormore Fip-devices for gesture or facial recognition. Fip-devices may becombined with an active system in order to work under e.g. low lightconditions or in other situations in which enhancement of thesurrounding conditions is required. Additionally or alternatively, acombination of one or more Fip-devices with one or more IR or VIS lightsources is possible, such as with a detection device based on the FiPeffect. A combination of a FiP-based detector with special devices isalso possible, which can be distinguished easily by the system and itssoftware, e.g. and not limited to, a special color, shape, relativeposition to other devices, speed of movement, light, frequency used tomodulate light sources on the device, surface properties, material used,reflection properties, transparency degree, absorption characteristics,etc. The device can, amongst other possibilities, resemble a stick, aracquet, a club, a gun, a knife, a wheel, a ring, a steering wheel, abottle, a ball, a glass, a vase, a spoon, a fork, a cube, a dice, afigure, a puppet, a teddy, a beaker, a pedal, a switch, a glove,jewelry, a musical instrument or an auxiliary device for playing amusical instrument, such as a plectrum, a drumstick or the like. Otheroptions are feasible.

Further, Fip-devices generally may be used in the field of building,construction and cartography. Thus, generally, FiP-based devices may beused in order to measure and/or monitor environmental areas, e.g.country side or buildings Therein, one or more Fip-devices may becombined with other methods and devices or can be used solely in orderto monitor progress and accuracy of building projects, changing objects,houses, etc. FiP-devices can be used for generating three-dimensionalmodels of scanned environments, in order to construct maps of rooms,streets, houses, communities or landscapes, both from ground or fromair. Potential fields of application may be construction, cartography,real estate management, land surveying or the like.

FiP-devices may be used within an interconnecting network of homeappliances such as CHAIN (Cedec Home Appliances Interoperating Network)to interconnect, automate, and control basic appliance-related servicesin a home, e.g. energy or load management, remote diagnostics, petrelated appliances, child related appliances, child surveillance,appliances related surveillance, support or service to elderly or illpersons, home security and/or surveillance, remote control of applianceoperation, and automatic maintenance support.

FiP devices may further be used in agriculture, for example to detectand sort out vermin, weeds, and/or infected crop plants, fully or inparts, wherein crop plants may be infected by fungus or insects.Further, for harvesting crops, FiP detectors may be used to detectanimals, such as deer, which may otherwise be harmed by harvestingdevices.

FiP-based devices can further be used for scanning of objects, such asin combination with CAD or similar software, such as for additivemanufacturing and/or 3D printing. Therein, use may be made of the highdimensional accuracy of Fip-devices, e.g. in x-, y- or z-direction or inany arbitrary combination of these directions, such as simultaneously.Further, Fip-devices may be used in inspections and maintenance, such aspipeline inspection gauges.

As outlined above, Fip-devices may further be used in manufacturing,quality control or identification applications, such as in productidentification or size identification (such as for finding an optimalplace or package, for reducing waste etc.). Further, Fip-devices may beused in logisitics applications. Thus, Fip-devices may be used foroptimized loading or packing containers or vehicles. Further,Fip-devices may be used for monitoring or controlling of surface damagesin the field of manufacturing, for monitoring or controlling rentalobjects such as rental vehicles, and/or for insurance applications, suchas for assessment of damages. Further, Fip-devices may be used foridentifying a size of material, object or tools, such as for optimalmaterial handling, especially in combination with robots. Further,Fip-devices may be used for process control in production, e.g. forobserving filling level of tanks. Further, Fip-devices may be used formaintenance of production assets like, but not limited to, tanks, pipes,reactors, tools etc. Further, Fip-devices may be used for analyzing3D-quality marks. Further, Fip-devices may be used in manufacturingtailor-made goods such as tooth inlays, dental braces, prosthesis,clothes or the like. Fip-devices may also be combined with one or more3D-printers for rapid prototyping, 3D-copying or the like. Further,Fip-devices may be used for detecting the shape of one or more articles,such as for anti-product piracy and for anti-counterfeiting purposes.

As outlined above, preferably, the at least one transversal opticalsensor and/or the at least one longitudinal optical sensor both maycomprise at least one organic semiconductor detector, particularlypreferably at least one dye solar cell, DSC or sDSC. In particular, thetransversal optical sensor and/or the longitudinal optical sensor eachmay comprise at least one first electrode, at least one n-semiconductingmetal oxide, at least one dye, at least one p-semiconducting organicmaterial and at least one second electrode, preferably in the statedorder. The stated elements can be present as layers in a layerconstruction, for example. The layer construction can be applied forexample to a substrate, preferably a transparent substrate, for examplea glass substrate.

Preferred embodiments of the above-mentioned elements of the preferredoptical sensor are described below by way of example, wherein theseembodiments can be used in any desired combination. However, numerousother configurations are also possible, in principle, wherein referencecan be made for example to WO 2012/110924 A1, US 2007/0176165 A1, U.S.Pat. No. 6,995,445 B2, DE 2501124 A1, DE 3225372 A1 and WO 2009/013282A1 cited above.

As outlined above, the at least one transversal optical sensor may bedesigned as a dye-sensitized solar cell (DSC), preferably a soliddye-sensitized solar cell (sDSC). Similarly, the at least onelongitudinal optical sensor may be designed as at least onedye-sensitized solar cell (DSC) or may comprise at least onedye-sensitized solar cell (DSC), preferably a solid dye-sensitized solarcell (sDSC). More preferably, the at least one longitudinal opticalsensor comprises a stack of DSCs, preferably a stack of sDSCs. Preferredcomponents of the DSCs or sDSCs will be disclosed in the following.However, it shall be understood that other embodiments are feasible.

First Electrode and n-Semiconductive Metal Oxide

Generally, for preferred embodiments of the first electrode and then-semiconductive metal oxide, which may be used in a layer setup of thetransversal optical sensor and/or the longitudinal optical sensor,reference may be made to WO 2012/110924 A1. The n-semiconductive metaloxide used in the dye solar cell of the transversal optical sensorand/or the longitudinal optical sensor may be a single metal oxide or amixture of different oxides. It is also possible to use mixed oxides.The n-semiconductive metal oxide may especially be porous and/or be usedin the form of a nanoparticulate oxide, nanoparticles in this contextbeing understood to mean particles which have an average particle sizeof less than 0.1 micrometer. A nanoparticulate oxide is typicallyapplied to a conductive substrate (i.e. a carrier with a conductivelayer as the first electrode) by a sintering process as a thin porousfilm with large surface area.

Preferably, the at least one transversal optical sensor uses at leastone transparent substrate. Similarly, preferably, the at least onelongitudinal optical sensor uses at least one transparent substrate. Incase a plurality of longitudinal optical sensors is used, such as astack of longitudinal optical sensors, preferably, at least one of theselongitudinal optical sensors uses a transparent substrate. Thus, as anexample, all longitudinal optical sensors but the last longitudinaloptical sensor facing away from the object, each may use a transparentsubstrate. The last longitudinal optical sensor may either use atransparent or an intransparent substrate.

Similarly, the at least one transversal optical sensor uses at least onetransparent first electrode. Further, the at least one longitudinaloptical sensor may use at least one transparent first electrode. In casea plurality of longitudinal optical sensors is used, such as a stack oflongitudinal optical sensors, preferably, at least one of theselongitudinal optical sensors uses a transparent first electrode. Thus,as an example, all longitudinal optical sensors but the lastlongitudinal optical sensor facing away from the object each may use atransparent first electrode. The last longitudinal optical sensor mayeither use a transparent or an intransparent first electrode.

The substrate may be rigid or else flexible. Suitable substrates (alsoreferred to hereinafter as carriers) are, as well as metal foils, inparticular plastic sheets or films and especially glass sheets or glassfilms. Particularly suitable electrode materials, especially for thefirst electrode according to the above-described, preferred structure,are conductive materials, for example transparent conductive oxides(TCOs), for example fluorine- and/or indium-doped tin oxide (FTO or ITO)and/or aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO), carbon nanotubes or metal films.Alternatively or additionally, it would, however, also be possible touse thin metal films which still have a sufficient transparency. In casean intransparent first electrode is desired and used, thick metal filmsmay be used.

The substrate can be covered or coated with these conductive materials.Since generally, only a single substrate is required in the structureproposed, the formation of flexible cells is also possible. This enablesa multitude of end uses which would be achievable only with difficulty,if at all, with rigid substrates, for example use in bank cards,garments, etc.

The first electrode, especially the TCO layer, may additionally becovered or coated with a solid metal oxide buffer layer (for example ofthickness 10 to 200 nm), in order to prevent direct contact of thep-type semiconductor with the TCO layer (see Peng et al., Coord. Chem.Rev. 248, 1479 (2004)). The inventive use of solid p-semiconductingelectrolytes, in the case of which contact of the electrolyte with thefirst electrode is greatly reduced compared to liquid or gel-formelectrolytes, however, makes this buffer layer unnecessary in manycases, such that it is possible in many cases to dispense with thislayer, which also has a current-limiting effect and can also worsen thecontact of the n-semiconducting metal oxide with the first electrode.This enhances the efficiency of the components. On the other hand, sucha buffer layer can in turn be utilized in a controlled manner in orderto match the current component of the dye solar cell to the currentcomponent of the organic solar cell. In addition, in the case of cellsin which the buffer layer has been dispensed with, especially in solidcells, problems frequently occur with unwanted recombinations of chargecarriers. In this respect, buffer layers are advantageous in many casesspecifically in solid cells.

As is well known, thin layers or films of metal oxides are generallyinexpensive solid semiconductor materials (n-type semiconductors), butthe absorption thereof, due to large band gaps, is typically not withinthe visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum, but rather usuallyin the ultraviolet spectral region. For use in solar cells, the metaloxides therefore generally, as is the case in the dye solar cells, haveto be combined with a dye as a photosensitizer, which absorbs in thewavelength range of sunlight, i.e. at 300 to 2000 nm, and, in theelectronically excited state, injects electrons into the conduction bandof the semiconductor. With the aid of a solid p-type semiconductor usedadditionally in the cell as an electrolyte, which is in turn reduced atthe counter electrode, electrons can be recycled to the sensitizer, suchthat it is regenerated.

Of particular interest for use in organic solar cells are semiconductorszinc oxide, tin dioxide, titanium dioxide or mixtures of these metaloxides. The metal oxides can be used in the form of nanocrystallineporous layers. These layers have a large surface area which is coatedwith the dye as a sensitizer, such that a high absorption of sunlight isachieved. Metal oxide layers which are structured, for example nanorods,give advantages such as higher electron mobilities or improved porefilling by the dye.

The metal oxide semiconductors can be used alone or in the form ofmixtures. It is also possible to coat a metal oxide with one or moreother metal oxides. In addition, the metal oxides may also be applied asa coating to another semiconductor, for example GaP, ZnP or ZnS.

Particularly preferred semiconductors are zinc oxide and titaniumdioxide in the anatase polymorph, which is preferably used innanocrystalline form.

In addition, the sensitizers can advantageously be combined with alln-type semiconductors which typically find use in these solar cells.Preferred examples include metal oxides used in ceramics, such astitanium dioxide, zinc oxide, tin(IV) oxide, tungsten(VI) oxide,tantalum(V) oxide, niobium(V) oxide, cesium oxide, strontium titanate,zinc stannate, complex oxides of the perovskite type, for example bariumtitanate, and binary and ternary iron oxides, which may also be presentin nanocrystalline or amorphous form.

Due to the strong absorption that customary organic dyes andphthalocyanines and porphyrins have, even thin layers or films of then-semiconducting metal oxide are sufficient to absorb the requiredamount of dye. Thin metal oxide films in turn have the advantage thatthe probability of unwanted recombination processes falls and that theinternal resistance of the dye subcell is reduced. For then-semiconducting metal oxide, it is possible with preference to uselayer thicknesses of 100 nm up to 20 micrometers, more preferably in therange between 500 nm and approx. 3 micrometers.

Dye

In the context of the present invention, as usual in particular forDSCs, the terms “dye”, “sensitizer dye” and “sensitizer” are usedessentially synonymously without any restriction of possibleconfigurations. Numerous dyes which are usable in the context of thepresent invention are known from the prior art, and so, for possiblematerial examples, reference may also be made to the above descriptionof the prior art regarding dye solar cells. As a preferred example, oneor more of the dyes disclosed in WO 2012/110924 A1 may be used.

Additionally or alternatively, one or more quinolinium dyes withfluorinated counter anion may be used in the detector according to thepresent invention, such as one or more of the dyes as disclosed in WO2013/144177 A1. Specifically, one or more of the dyes disclosed in thefollowing may be used in the at least one longitudinal optical sensorand/or in the at least one transversal optical sensor. Details of thesedyes and details of the disclosure of these unpublished applicationswill be given below. Specifically, dye D-5, which will be describedbelow in more detail, may be used. However, one or more other dyes maybe used in addition or alternatively.

All dyes listed and claimed may in principle also be present aspigments. Dye-sensitized solar cells based on titanium dioxide as asemiconductor material are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No.4,927,721 A, Nature 353, p. 737-740 (1991) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,350,644A, and also Nature 395, p. 583-585 (1998) and EP 1 176 646 A1. The dyesdescribed in these documents can in principle also be usedadvantageously in the context of the present invention. These dye solarcells preferably comprise monomolecular films of transition metalcomplexes, especially ruthenium complexes, which are bonded to thetitanium dioxide layer via acid groups as sensitizers.

Dyes for use in dye-sensitized solar cells which may comprise rutheniumcomplexes have been rather of academic interest so far, particularly dueto the high costs of ruthenium. However, a dye-sensitized solar cellwhich may be used in the detector according to the present inventionwould only require such a small amount of ruthenium that the costargument may easily be overruled by its attractive features for usewithin the present method for determining a position of at least oneobject, particularly in a case where at least one light beam whichtravels from the object might involve a spectral range which may atleast partially include a part of the infrared (IR) region, i.e. a partof the electromagnetic spectrum ranging from approximately 750 nm to1000 μm, preferentially a part thereof generally denoted as nearinfrared (NIR) region, which is usually considered to range fromapproximately 750 nm to 1.5 μm. Examples of known ruthenium complexeswhich might be suitable for an application within the detector accordingto the present invention are:

Another example may be found in T. Kinoshita, J. T. Dy, S. Uchida, T.Kubo, and H. Segawa, Wideband dye-sensitized solar cells employing aphosphine-coordinated ruthenium sensitizer, Nature Photonics, 7, 535-539(2013), wherein a phosphine-coordinated ruthenium complex is described,which exhibits a strong absorption in the NIR, particularly within therange from 750 nm to 950 nm, which may thus, yield a dye-sensitizedsolar cell with a promising efficiency:

Owing to weak absorption properties of most known dyes within the IRregion, including the NIR region, dyes comprising ruthenium complexesmay, thus, be able to extend the scope of the detector according to thepresent invention into the IR region, in particular into the NIR region,e.g. as being used as active depth sensors, particularly in applicationsrelated to computer vision, wherein IR light may play an important role,as described elsewhere in this application.

Many sensitizers which have been proposed include metal-free organicdyes, which are likewise also usable in the context of the presentinvention. High efficiencies of more than 4%, especially in solid dyesolar cells, can be achieved, for example, with indoline dyes (see, forexample, Schmidt-Mende et al., Adv. Mater. 2005, 17, 813). U.S. Pat. No.6,359,211 describes the use, also implementable in the context of thepresent invention, of cyanine, oxazine, thiazine and acridine dyes whichhave carboxyl groups bonded via an alkylene radical for fixing to thetitanium dioxide semiconductor.

Organic dyes now achieve efficiencies of almost 12.1% in liquid cells(see, for example, P. Wang et al., ACS. Nano 2010).Pyridinium-containing dyes have also been reported, can be used in thecontext of the present invention and exhibit promising efficiencies.

Particularly preferred sensitizer dyes in the dye solar cell proposedare the perylene derivatives, terrylene derivatives and quaterrylenederivatives described in DE 10 2005 053 995 A1 or WO 2007/054470 A1. Theuse of these dyes, which is also possible in the context of the presentinvention, leads to photovoltaic elements with high efficiencies andsimultaneously high stabilities.

The rylenes exhibit strong absorption in the wavelength range ofsunlight and can, depending on the length of the conjugated system,cover a range from about 400 nm (perylene derivatives I from DE 10 2005053 995 A1) up to about 900 nm (quaterrylene derivatives I from DE 102005 053 995 A1).

Rylene derivatives I based on terrylene absorb, according to thecomposition thereof, in the solid state adsorbed onto titanium dioxide,within a range from about 400 to 800 nm. In order to achieve verysubstantial utilization of the incident sunlight from the visible intothe near infrared region, it is advantageous to use mixtures ofdifferent rylene derivatives I. Occasionally, it may also be advisablealso to use different rylene homologs.

The rylene derivatives I can be fixed easily and in a permanent mannerto the n-semiconducting metal oxide film. The bonding is effected viathe anhydride function (x1) or the carboxyl groups —COOH or —COO— formedin situ, or via the acid groups A present in the imide or condensateradicals ((x2) or (x3)). The rylene derivatives I described in DE 102005 053 995 A1 have good suitability for use in dye-sensitized solarcells in the context of the present invention.

It is particularly preferred when the dyes, at one end of the molecule,have an anchor group which enables the fixing thereof to the n-typesemiconductor film. At the other end of the molecule, the dyespreferably comprise electron donors Y which facilitate the regenerationof the dye after the electron release to the n-type semiconductor, andalso prevent recombination with electrons already released to thesemiconductor.

For further details regarding the possible selection of a suitable dye,it is possible, for example, again to refer to DE 10 2005 053 995 A1. Byway of example, it is possible especially to use ruthenium complexes,porphyrins, other organic sensitizers, and preferably rylenes.

The dyes can be fixed onto or into the n-semiconducting metal oxidefilms in a simple manner. For example, the n-semiconducting metal oxidefilms can be contacted in the freshly sintered (still warm) state over asufficient period (for example about 0.5 to 24 h) with a solution orsuspension of the dye in a suitable organic solvent. This can beaccomplished, for example, by immersing the metal oxide-coated substrateinto the solution of the dye.

If combinations of different dyes are to be used, they may, for example,be applied successively from one or more solutions or suspensions whichcomprise one or more of the dyes. It is also possible to use two dyeswhich are separated by a layer of, for example, CuSCN (on this subjectsee, for example, Tennakone, K. J., Phys. Chem. B. 2003, 107, 13758).The most convenient method can be determined comparatively easily in theindividual case.

In the selection of the dye and of the size of the oxide particles ofthe n-semiconducting metal oxide, the organic solar cell should beconfigured such that a maximum amount of light is absorbed. The oxidelayers should be structured such that the solid p-type semiconductor canefficiently fill the pores. For instance, smaller particles have greatersurface areas and are therefore capable of adsorbing a greater amount ofdyes. On the other hand, larger particles generally have larger poreswhich enable better penetration through the p-conductor.

p-Semiconducting Organic Material

As described above, the at least one DSC or sDSC of the at least onetransversal optical sensor and/or the at least one longitudinal opticalsensor can comprise in particular at least one p-semiconducting organicmaterial, preferably at least one solid p-semiconducting material, whichis also designated hereinafter as p-type semiconductor or p-typeconductor. Hereinafter, a description is given of a series of preferredexamples of such organic p-type semiconductors which can be usedindividually or else in any desired combination, for example in acombination of a plurality of layers with a respective p-typesemiconductor, and/or in a combination of a plurality of p-typesemiconductors in one layer.

In order to prevent recombination of the electrons in then-semiconducting metal oxide with the solid p-conductor, it is possibleto use, between the n-semiconducting metal oxide and the p-typesemiconductor, at least one passivating layer which has a passivatingmaterial. This layer should be very thin and should as far as possiblecover only the as yet uncovered sites of the n-semiconducting metaloxide. The passivation material may, under some circumstances, also beapplied to the metal oxide before the dye. Preferred passivationmaterials are especially one or more of the following substances: Al₂O₃;silanes, for example CH₃SiCl₃; Al³⁺; 4-tert-butylpyridine (TBP); MgO;GBA (4-guanidinobutyric acid) and similar derivatives; alkyl acids;hexadecylmalonic acid (HDMA).

As described above, in the context of the organic solar cell, preferablyone or more solid organic p-type semiconductors are used—alone or elsein combination with one or more further p-type semiconductors which areorganic or inorganic in nature. In the context of the present invention,a p-type semiconductor is generally understood to mean a material,especially an organic material, which is capable of conducting holes,that is to say positive charge carriers. More particularly, it may be anorganic material with an extensive π-electron system which can beoxidized stably at least once, for example to form what is called afree-radical cation. For example, the p-type semiconductor may compriseat least one organic matrix material which has the properties mentioned.Furthermore, the p-type semiconductor can optionally comprise one or aplurality of dopants which intensify the p-semiconducting properties. Asignificant parameter influencing the selection of the p-typesemiconductor is the hole mobility, since this partly determines thehole diffusion length (cf. Kumara, G., Langmuir, 2002, 18, 10493-10495).A comparison of charge carrier mobilities in different spiro compoundscan be found, for example, in T. Saragi, Adv. Funct. Mater. 2006, 16,966-974.

Preferably, in the context of the present invention, organicsemiconductors are used (i.e. low molecular weight, oligomeric orpolymeric semiconductors or mixtures of such semiconductors). Particularpreference is given to p-type semiconductors which can be processed froma liquid phase. Examples here are p-type semiconductors based onpolymers such as polythiophene and polyarylamines, or on amorphous,reversibly oxidizable, nonpolymeric organic compounds, such as thespirobifluorenes mentioned at the outset (cf., for example, US2006/0049397 and the spiro compounds disclosed therein as p-typesemiconductors, which are also usable in the context of the presentinvention). Preference is given to using low molecular weight organicsemiconductors, such as the low molecular weight p-type semiconductingmaterials as disclosed in WO 2012/110924 A1, preferably spiro-MeOTAD,and/or one or more of the p-type semiconducting materials disclosed inLeijtens et al., ACS Nano, VOL. 6, NO. 2, 1455-1462 (2012). Additionallyor alternatively, one or more of the p-type semiconducting materials asdisclosed in WO 2010/094636 A1 may be used, the full content of which isherewith included by reference. In addition, reference may also be madeto the remarks regarding the p-semiconducting materials and dopants fromthe above description of the prior art.

The p-type semiconductor is preferably producible or produced byapplying at least one p-conducting organic material to at least onecarrier element, wherein the application is effected for example bydeposition from a liquid phase comprising the at least one p-conductingorganic material. The deposition can in this case once again beeffected, in principle, by any desired deposition process, for exampleby spin-coating, knife-coating, printing or combinations of the statedand/or other deposition methods.

The organic p-type semiconductor may especially comprise at least onespiro compound and/or especially be selected from: a spiro compound,especially spiro-MeOTAD; a compound with the structural formula:

in which

A¹, A², A³ are each independently optionally substituted aryl groups orheteroaryl groups,

R¹, R², R³ are each independently selected from the group consisting ofthe substituents —R, —OR, —NR₂, -A⁴-OR and -A⁴-NR₂,

where R is selected from the group consisting of alkyl, awl andheteroaryl,

and

where A⁴ is an aryl group or heteroaryl group, and

where n at each instance in formula I is independently a value of 0, 1,2 or 3,

with the proviso that the sum of the individual n values is at least 2and at least two of the R¹, R² and R³ radicals are —OR and/or —NR₂.

Preferably, A² and A³ are the same; accordingly, the compound of theformula (I) preferably has the following structure (Ia)

More particularly, as explained above, the p-type semiconductor may thushave at least one low molecular weight organic p-type semiconductor. Alow molecular weight material is generally understood to mean a materialwhich is present in monomeric, nonpolymerized or nonoligomerized form.The term “low molecular weight” as used in the present contextpreferably means that the p-type semiconductor has molecular weights inthe range from 100 to 25 000 g/mol. Preferably, the low molecular weightsubstances have molecular weights of 500 to 2000 g/mol.

In general, in the context of the present invention, p-semiconductingproperties are understood to mean the property of materials, especiallyof organic molecules, to form holes and to transport these holes and/orto pass them on to adjacent molecules. More particularly, stableoxidation of these molecules should be possible. In addition, the lowmolecular weight organic p-type semiconductors mentioned may especiallyhave an extensive π-electron system. More particularly, the at least onelow molecular weight p-type semiconductor may be processable from asolution. The low molecular weight p-type semiconductor may especiallycomprise at least one triphenylamine. It is particularly preferred whenthe low molecular weight organic p-type semiconductor comprises at leastone spiro compound. A spiro compound is understood to mean polycyclicorganic compounds whose rings are joined only at one atom, which is alsoreferred to as the spiro atom. More particularly, the spiro atom may besp³-hybridized, such that the constituents of the spiro compoundconnected to one another via the spiro atom are, for example, arrangedin different planes with respect to one another.

More preferably, the spiro compound has a structure of the followingformula:

where the aryl¹, aryl², aryl³, aryl⁴, aryl⁵, aryl⁶, aryl⁷ and aryl⁸radicals are each independently selected from substituted awl radicalsand heteroaryl radicals, especially from substituted phenyl radicals,where the aryl radicals and heteroaryl radicals, preferably the phenylradicals, are each independently substituted, preferably in each case byone or more substituents selected from the group consisting of —O-alkyl,—OH, —F, —Cl, —Br and —I, where alkyl is preferably methyl, ethyl,propyl or isopropyl. More preferably, the phenyl radicals are eachindependently substituted, in each case by one or more substituentsselected from the group consisting of —O-Me, —OH, —F, —Cl, —Br and —I.

Further preferably, the spiro compound is a compound of the followingformula:

where R^(r), R^(s), R^(t), R^(u), R^(v), R^(w), R^(x) and R^(y) are eachindependently selected from the group consisting of —O-alkyl, —OH, —F,—Cl, —Br and —I, where alkyl is preferably methyl, ethyl, propyl orisopropyl. More preferably, R^(r), R^(s), R^(t), R^(u), R^(v), R^(x) andR^(y) are each independently selected from the group consisting of—O-Me, —OH, —F, —Cl, —Br and —I.

More particularly, the p-type semiconductor may comprise spiro-MeOTAD orconsist of spiro-MeOTAD, i.e. a compound of the formula below,commercially available, for example, from Merck KGaA, Darmstadt,Germany:

Alternatively or additionally, it is also possible to use otherp-semiconducting compounds, especially low molecular weight and/oroligomeric and/or polymeric p-semiconducting compounds.

In an alternative embodiment, the low molecular weight organic p-typesemiconductor comprises one or more compounds of the above-mentionedgeneral formula I, for which reference may be made, for example, to PCTapplication number PCT/EP2010/051826, which will be published after thepriority date of the present application. The p-type semiconductor maycomprise the at least one compound of the above-mentioned generalformula I additionally or alternatively to the spiro compound describedabove.

The term “alkyl” or “alkyl group” or “alkyl radical” as used in thecontext of the present invention is understood to mean substituted orunsubstituted C₁-C₂₀-alkyl radicals in general. Preference is given toC₁- to C₁₀-alkyl radicals, particular preference to C₁- to C₈-alkylradicals. The alkyl radicals may be either straight-chain or branched.In addition, the alkyl radicals may be substituted by one or moresubstituents selected from the group consisting of C₁-C₂₀-alkoxy,halogen, preferably F, and C₆-C₃₀-aryl which may in turn be substitutedor unsubstituted. Examples of suitable alkyl groups are methyl, ethyl,propyl, butyl, pentyl, hexyl, heptyl and octyl, and also isopropyl,isobutyl, isopentyl, sec-butyl, tert-butyl, neopentyl,3,3-dimethylbutyl, 2-ethylhexyl, and also derivatives of the alkylgroups mentioned substituted by C₆-C₃₀-aryl, C₁-C₂₀-alkoxy and/orhalogen, especially F, for example CF₃.

The term “aryl” or “aryl group” or “aryl radical” as used in the contextof the present invention is understood to mean optionally substitutedC₆-C₃₀-aryl radicals which are derived from monocyclic, bicyclic,tricyclic or else multicyclic aromatic rings, where the aromatic ringsdo not comprise any ring heteroatoms. The aryl radical preferablycomprises 5- and/or 6-membered aromatic rings. When the aryls are notmonocyclic systems, in the case of the term “aryl” for the second ring,the saturated form (perhydro form) or the partly unsaturated form (forexample the dihydro form or tetrahydro form), provided the particularforms are known and stable, is also possible. The term “aryl” in thecontext of the present invention thus comprises, for example, alsobicyclic or tricyclic radicals in which either both or all threeradicals are aromatic, and also bicyclic or tricyclic radicals in whichonly one ring is aromatic, and also tricyclic radicals in which tworings are aromatic. Examples of aryl are: phenyl, naphthyl, indanyl,1,2-dihydronaphthenyl, 1,4-dihydronaphthenyl, fluorenyl, indenyl,anthracenyl, phenanthrenyl or 1,2,3,4-tetrahydronaphthyl. Particularpreference is given to C₆-C₁₀-aryl radicals, for example phenyl ornaphthyl, very particular preference to C₆-aryl radicals, for examplephenyl. In addition, the term “aryl” also comprises ring systemscomprising at least two monocyclic, bicyclic or multicyclic aromaticrings joined to one another via single or double bonds. One example isthat of biphenyl groups.

The term “heteroaryl” or “heteroaryl group” or “heteroaryl radical” asused in the context of the present invention is understood to meanoptionally substituted 5- or 6-membered aromatic rings and multicyclicrings, for example bicyclic and tricyclic compounds having at least oneheteroatom in at least one ring. The heteroaryls in the context of theinvention preferably comprise 5 to 30 ring atoms. They may bemonocyclic, bicyclic or tricyclic, and some can be derived from theafore-mentioned aryl by replacing at least one carbon atom in the arylbase skeleton with a heteroatom. Preferred heteroatoms are N, O and S.The hetaryl radicals more preferably have 5 to 13 ring atoms. The baseskeleton of the heteroaryl radicals is especially preferably selectedfrom systems such as pyridine and five-membered heteroaromatics such asthiophene, pyrrole, imidazole or furan. These base skeletons mayoptionally be fused to one or two six-membered aromatic radicals. Inaddition, the term “heteroaryl” also comprises ring systems comprisingat least two monocyclic, bicyclic or multicyclic aromatic rings joinedto one another via single or double bonds, where at least one ringcomprises a heteroatom. When the heteroaryls are not monocyclic systems,in the case of the term “heteroaryl” for at least one ring, thesaturated form (perhydro form) or the partly unsaturated form (forexample the dihydro form or tetrahydro form), provided the particularforms are known and stable, is also possible. The term “heteroaryl” inthe context of the present invention thus comprises, for example, alsobicyclic or tricyclic radicals in which either both or all threeradicals are aromatic, and also bicyclic or tricyclic radicals in whichonly one ring is aromatic, and also tricyclic radicals in which tworings are aromatic, where at least one of the rings, i.e. at least onearomatic or one nonaromatic ring has a heteroatom. Suitable fusedheteroaromatics are, for example, carbazolyl, benzimidazolyl,benzofuryl, dibenzofuryl or dibenzothiophenyl. The base skeleton may besubstituted at one, more than one or all substitutable positions,suitable substituents being the same as have already been specifiedunder the definition of C₆-C₃₀-aryl. However, the hetaryl radicals arepreferably unsubstituted. Suitable hetaryl radicals are, for example,pyridin-2-yl, pyridin-3-yl, pyridin-4-yl, thiophen-2-yl, thiophen-3-yl,pyrrol-2-yl, pyrrol-3-yl, furan-2-yl, furan-3-yl and imidazol-2-yl andthe corresponding benzofused radicals, especially carbazolyl,benzimidazolyl, benzofuryl, dibenzofuryl or dibenzothiophenyl.

In the context of the invention the term “optionally substituted” refersto radicals in which at least one hydrogen radical of an alkyl group,aryl group or heteroaryl group has been replaced by a substituent. Withregard to the type of this substituent, preference is given to alkylradicals, for example methyl, ethyl, propyl, butyl, pentyl, hexyl,heptyl and octyl, and also isopropyl, isobutyl, isopentyl, sec-butyl,tert-butyl, neopentyl, 3,3-dimethylbutyl and 2-ethylhexyl, arylradicals, for example C₆-C₁₀-aryl radicals, especially phenyl ornaphthyl, most preferably C₆-aryl radicals, for example phenyl, andhetaryl radicals, for example pyridin-2-yl, pyridin-3-yl, pyridin-4-yl,thiophen-2-yl, thiophen-3-yl, pyrrol-2-yl, pyrrol-3-yl, furan-2-yl,furan-3-yl and imidazol-2-yl, and also the corresponding benzofusedradicals, especially carbazolyl, benzimidazolyl, benzofuryl,dibenzofuryl or dibenzothiophenyl. Further examples include thefollowing substituents: alkenyl, alkynyl, halogen, hydroxyl.

The degree of substitution here may vary from monosubstitution up to themaximum number of possible substituents.

Preferred compounds of the formula I for use in accordance with theinvention are notable in that at least two of the R¹, R² and R³ radicalsare para-OR and/or —NR₂ substituents. The at least two radicals here maybe only —OR radicals, only —NR₂ radicals, or at least one —OR and atleast one —NR₂ radical.

Particularly preferred compounds of the formula I for use in accordancewith the invention are notable in that at least four of the R¹, R² andR³ radicals are para-OR and/or —NR₂ substituents. The at least fourradicals here may be only —OR radicals, only —NR₂ radicals or a mixtureof —OR and —NR₂ radicals.

Very particularly preferred compounds of the formula I for use inaccordance with the invention are notable in that all of the R¹, R² andR³ radicals are para-OR and/or —NR₂ substituents. They may be only —ORradicals, only —NR₂ radicals or a mixture of —OR and —NR₂ radicals.

In all cases, the two R in the —NR₂ radicals may be different from oneanother, but they are preferably the same.

Preferably, A¹, A² and A³ are each independently selected from the groupconsisting of

in which

-   m is an integer from 1 to 18,-   R⁴ is alkyl, aryl or heteroaryl, where R⁴ is preferably an aryl    radical, more preferably a phenyl radical,-   R⁵, R⁶ are each independently H, alkyl, aryl or heteroaryl,

where the aromatic and heteroaromatic rings of the structures shown mayoptionally have further substitution. The degree of substitution of thearomatic and heteroaromatic rings here may vary from monosubstitution upto the maximum number of possible substituents.

Preferred substituents in the case of further substitution of thearomatic and heteroaromatic rings include the substituents alreadymentioned above for the one, two or three optionally substitutedaromatic or heteroaromatic groups.

Preferably, the aromatic and heteroaromatic rings of the structuresshown do not have further substitution.

More preferably, A¹, A² and A³ are each independently

more preferably

More preferably, the at least one compound of the formula (I) has one ofthe following structures:

In an alternative embodiment, the organic p-type semiconductor comprisesa compound of the type ID322 having the following structure:

The compounds for use in accordance with the invention can be preparedby customary methods of organic synthesis known to those skilled in theart. References to relevant (patent) literature can additionally befound in the synthesis examples adduced below.

Second Electrode

a) General Remarks

The second electrode may be a bottom electrode facing the substrate orelse a top electrode facing away from the substrate. As outlined above,the second electrode may be fully or partially transparent or, else, maybe intransparent. As used herein, the term partially transparent refersto the fact that the second electrode may comprise transparent regionsand intransparent regions.

In case the second electrode is fully or partially transparent, thesecond electrode may comprise at least one transparent conductiveelectrode material, which may be selected from the group consisting of:an inorganic transparent conductive material; an organic transparentconductive material. As an example of an inorganic conductivetransparent material, a metal oxide may be used, such as ITO and/or FTO.As an example of an organic transparent conductive material, one or moreelectrically conductive polymer materials may be used. As used herein,the term “transparent” refers to the actual layer or layer setup of thesecond electrode. Thus, the transparency may be generated by using thinlayers, such as layers having a thickness of less than 100 nm, morepreferably less than 50 nm.

One or more materials of the following group of materials may be used:at least one metallic material, preferably a metallic material selectedfrom the group consisting of aluminum, silver, platinum, gold; at leastone nonmetallic inorganic material, preferably LiF; at least one organicconductive material, preferably at least one electrically conductivepolymer and, more preferably, at least one transparent electricallyconductive polymer.

The second electrode may comprise one or more metals in a pure formand/or may comprise one or more metal alloys. The second electrode mayfurther comprise a single layer and/or may comprise a layer setup of twoor more layers, wherein, preferably at least one layer is a metal layercomprising one or more metals or metal alloys. As an example, the secondelectrode may comprise at least one metal selected from the group listedin the preceding paragraph in a pure form and/or as a component of analloy. As an example, the second electrode may comprise at least onealloy selected from the group consisting of: a molybdenum alloy; aniobium alloy; a neodymium alloy; an aluminum alloy. Most preferably,the second electrode may comprise at least one alloy selected from thegroup consisting of: MoNb; AlNd; MoNb. As an example, a layer setupcomprising two or more layers of two or more of the named alloys may beused, such as a layer setup comprising the following layers:MoNb/AlNd/MoNb. As an example, the following layer thicknesses may beused: MoNb 30 nm/AlNd 100 nm/MoNb 30 nm. Additionally or alternatively,however, other setups and/or other layer thicknesses may be used.

The second electrode may comprise at least one metal electrode, whereinone or more metals in pure form or as a mixture/alloy, such asespecially aluminum or silver may be used.

Additionally or alternatively, nonmetallic materials may be used, suchas inorganic materials and/or organic materials, both alone and incombination with metal electrodes. As an example, the use ofinorganic/organic mixed electrodes or multilayer electrodes is possible,for example the use of LiF/Al electrodes. Additionally or alternatively,conductive polymers may be used. Thus, the second electrode of the atleast one transversal optical sensor and/or the second electrode of theat least one longitudinal optical sensor preferably may comprise one ormore conductive polymers.

As an example, one or more electrically conductive polymers may be used,selected from the group consisting of: polyanaline (PANI) and/or itschemical relatives; a polythiophene and/or its chemical relatives, suchas poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and/or PEDOT:PSS(poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) poly(styrenesulfonate)). Additionallyor alternatively, one or more of the conductive polymers as disclosed inEP2507286 A2, EP2205657 A1 or EP2220141 A1

In addition or alternatively, inorganic conductive materials may beused, such as inorganic conductive carbon materials, such as carbonmaterials selected from the group consisting of: graphite, graphene,carbon nano-tubes, carbon nano-wires.

In addition, it is also possible to use electrode designs in which thequantum efficiency of the components is increased by virtue of thephotons being forced, by means of appropriate reflections, to passthrough the absorbing layers at least twice. Such layer structures arealso referred to as “concentrators” and are likewise described, forexample, in WO 02/101838 (especially pages 23-24).

The second electrode may be identical for the at least one transversaloptical sensor and the at least one longitudinal optical sensor. Still,different setups of the second electrode for the transversal opticalsensor and the longitudinal optical sensor may be used.

b) Second Electrode of the Transversal Sensor Device

Preferably, the second electrode for the at least one transversal sensordevice is at least partially transparent. As an example, the secondelectrode of the transversal sensor device may comprise at least onetransparent electrode layer which covers a sensor region, preferably asensor area, of the transversal optical sensor. As outlined above, theat least one transparent electrode layer preferably may comprise atleast one layer of an electrically conductive polymer, preferably atransparent electrically conductive polymer.

Additionally, the second electrode of the transversal sensor device maycomprise two or more partial electrodes, which, preferably, may be madeof one or more metals, such as one or more of the metals and/or metalalloys listed above. As an example, the two or more partial electrodesmay form a frame which surrounds the sensor region, preferably thesensor area, of the transversal optical sensor. The frame may have apolygonal shape, such as a rectangular or, preferably, a square shape.Preferably, on each side of the polygon, preferably the rectangle orsquare, one partial electrodes is provided, such as a partial electrodebeing formed as a bar fully or partially extending along the side.

The at least one electrically conductive polymer may have an electricalconductivity of at least one order of magnitude below electricalconductivity of the material of the partial electrodes, preferably of atleast two orders of magnitude below. The at least one electricallyconductive polymer may electrically interconnect the partial electrodes.Thus, as outlined above, the partial electrodes may form a framesurrounding a sensor region, preferably a sensor area, of thetransversal optical sensor. The at least one layer of the electricallyconductive polymer may form a transparent, electrically conductive layerwhich fully or partially covers the sensor region and which electricallycontacts the partial electrodes. As an example, the partial electrodesmay comprise metal strips or metal bars along the sides of a rectangle,wherein an inner region of the rectangle forms the sensor region,wherein the at least one layer of the electrically conductive polymerforms one or more transparent electrode layers fully or partiallycovering the inner region of the rectangle and electrically contactingthe metal strips or bars.

In case two or more partial electrodes are used which, preferably, areelectrically interconnected by at least one layer of an electricallyconductive polymer, each of the partial electrodes may be contactedindividually, such as by one or more electrical leads or contact pads.Thus, by electrically contacting the partial electrodes, an electricalcurrent through each of the partial electrodes may be measuredindividually, such as by using an individual current measurement deviceand/or by using a sequential measurement scheme for individuallydetecting the currents through the partial electrodes. The detector, forthe purpose of measuring the currents through the partial electrodes,may provide an appropriate measurement setup comprising one or morecurrent measurement devices.

c) Second Electrode of the Longitudinal Sensor Device

Generally, with regard to the at least one second electrode of the atleast one longitudinal sensor device, the above-mentioned detailsregarding the transversal sensor device may apply mutatis mutandis.Again, the second electrode of the at least one longitudinal sensordevice preferably is transparent. In case a plurality of longitudinalsensor devices is provided, such as in a stack, preferably all secondelectrodes of the longitudinal sensor devices are transparent but thesecond electrode of the last longitudinal sensor device facing away fromthe object. The second electrode of the last longitudinal sensor devicemay be transparent or intransparent.

With regard to materials which may be used for the second electrode ofthe longitudinal sensor device, reference may be made to theabove-mentioned materials, which may be selected from metallicmaterials, nonmetallic inorganic materials and electrically conductiveorganic materials.

Again, the second electrode of the longitudinal optical sensor or, incase a plurality of longitudinal optical sensors is provided, of atleast one of the longitudinal optical sensors may optionally besubdivided into partial electrodes which may be contacted individually.However, since for the purpose of the at least one longitudinal opticalsensor generally only one individual longitudinal sensor signal isrequired per longitudinal optical sensor, the second electrode of the atleast one longitudinal optical sensor may as well be designed to providea single sensor signal and, thus, may provide a single electrode contactonly.

The second electrode of the longitudinal optical sensor, again,preferably may comprise one or more layers of an electrically conductivepolymer, such as one or more of the polymers mentioned above. The atleast one layer of the electrically conductive polymer, which preferablyis transparent, may fully or partially cover the sensor region,preferably a sensor area, of the longitudinal optical sensor. Inaddition, one or more contact pads may be provided which electricallycontact the at least one electrically conductive polymer layer. This atleast one contact pad for the second electrode of the longitudinaloptical sensor preferably may be made of at least one metal, such as atleast one of the methods mentioned above, and/or may fully or partiallybe made of at least one inorganic conductive material, such as one ormore transparent conductive oxides, such as one or more of theconductive oxides mentioned above with regard to the first electrode.

Encapsulation

The at least one transversal optical sensor and/or the at least onelongitudinal optical sensor may further be encapsulated and/or packaged,in order to provide protection against environmental influences, such asoxygen and/or humidity. Thereby, an increased long-term stability may beprovided.

Therein, each of the optical sensors may be encapsulated individually.Thus, an individual encapsulation may be provided for each of theoptical sensors, such as an encapsulation for the transversal opticalsensor or each of the transversal optical sensors, and an individualencapsulation for the longitudinal optical sensor or for each of thelongitudinal optical sensors. Additionally or alternatively, a pluralityof optical sensors may be encapsulated as a group. Thus, anencapsulation may be provided which encapsulates more than one opticalsensor, such as a plurality of transversal optical sensors, a pluralityof longitudinal optical sensors, or at least one transversal opticalsensor and at least one longitudinal optical sensor.

For the purpose of encapsulation, various techniques may be used. Thus,the detector may comprise an airtight housing which protects the opticalsensors. Additionally or alternatively, specifically in case organicphotodetectors and, more preferably, DSCs or sDSCs are used, anencapsulation by one or more lids interacting with a substrate of theoptical sensors may be used. Thus, a lid made of a metal, a ceramicmaterial or a glass material may be glued to a substrate of the opticalsensors, wherein a layer setup is located in inner space of the lid. Twoor more contact leads for contacting the at least one first electrodeand the at least one second electrode may be provided which may becontacted from the outside of the lid.

Various other encapsulation techniques may be used alternatively or inaddition. Thus, encapsulation by one or more encapsulation layers may beprovided. The at least one encapsulation layer may be deposited on topof a layer setup of the devices. Thus, one or more organic and/orinorganic encapsulation materials such as one or more barrier materialsmay be used.

SYNTHESIS EXAMPLES

Syntheses of various compounds which can be used in dye solar cells inthe context of the present invention, in particular as p-typesemiconductors, are listed by way of example in WO 2012/110924 A1, thecontent of which is herewith included by reference.

Overall, in the context of the present invention, the followingembodiments are regarded as particularly preferred:

Embodiment 1

A detector for determining a position of at least one object,comprising:

-   -   at least one transversal optical sensor, the transversal optical        sensor being adapted to determine a transversal position of at        least one light beam traveling from the object to the detector,        the transversal position being a position in at least one        dimension perpendicular to an optical axis of the detector, the        transversal optical sensor being adapted to generate at least        one transversal sensor signal;    -   at least one longitudinal optical sensor, wherein the        longitudinal optical sensor has at least one sensor region,        wherein the longitudinal optical sensor is designed to generate        at least one longitudinal sensor signal in a manner dependent on        an illumination of the sensor region by the light beam, wherein        the longitudinal sensor signal, given the same total power of        the illumination, is dependent on a beam cross-section of the        light beam in the sensor region;    -   at least one evaluation device, wherein the evaluation device is        designed to generate at least one item of information on a        transversal position of the object by evaluating the transversal        sensor signal and to generate at least one item of information        on a longitudinal position of the object by evaluating the        longitudinal sensor signal.

Embodiment 2

The detector according to the preceding embodiment, wherein thetransversal optical sensor is a photo detector having at least one firstelectrode, at least one second electrode and at least one photovoltaicmaterial, wherein the photovoltaic material is embedded in between thefirst electrode and the second electrode, wherein the photovoltaicmaterial is adapted to generate electric charges in response to anillumination of the photovoltaic material with light, wherein the secondelectrode is a split electrode having at least two partial electrodes,wherein the transversal optical sensor has a sensor region, wherein theat least one transversal sensor signal indicates a position of the lightbeam in the sensor region, preferably a sensor area.

Embodiment 3

The detector according to the preceding embodiment, wherein electricalcurrents through the partial electrodes are dependent on a position ofthe light beam in the sensor region.

Embodiment 4

The detector according to the preceding embodiment, wherein thetransversal optical sensor is adapted to generate the transversal sensorsignal in accordance with the electrical currents through the partialelectrodes.

Embodiment 5

The detector according to any of the two preceding embodiments, whereinthe detector, preferably the transversal optical sensor and/or theevaluation device, is adapted to derive the information on thetransversal position of the object from at least one ratio of thecurrents through the partial electrodes.

Embodiment 6

The detector according to any of the four preceding embodiments, whereinat least four partial electrodes are provided.

Embodiment 7

The detector according to any of the five preceding embodiments, whereinthe photovoltaic material comprises at least one organic photovoltaicmaterial and wherein the transversal optical sensor is an organic photodetector.

Embodiment 8

The detector according to any of the six preceding embodiments, whereinthe organic photo detector is a dye-sensitized solar cell.

Embodiment 9

The detector according to the preceding embodiment, wherein thedye-sensitized solar cell is a solid dye-sensitized solar cell,comprising a layer setup embedded in between the first electrode and thesecond electrode, the layer setup comprising at least onen-semiconducting metal oxide, at least one dye, and at least one solidp-semiconducting organic material.

Embodiment 10

The detector according to any of the eight preceding embodiments,wherein the first electrode at least partially is made of at least onetransparent conductive oxide, wherein the second electrode at leastpartially is made of an electrically conductive polymer, preferably atransparent electrically conductive polymer.

Embodiment 11

The detector according to the preceding embodiment, wherein theconductive polymer is selected from the group consisting of: apoly-3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (PEDOT), preferably PEDOT beingelectrically doped with at least one counter ion, more preferably PEDOTdoped with sodium polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS); a polyaniline(PANI); a polythiophene.

Embodiment 12

The detector according to any of the two preceding embodiments, whereinthe conductive polymer provides an electric resistivity of 0.1-20 kΩbetween the partial electrodes, preferably an electric resistivity of0.5-5.0 kΩ and, more preferably, an electric resistivity of 1.0-3.0 kΩ.

Embodiment 13

The detector according to any of the preceding embodiments, wherein atleast one of the transversal optical sensor and the longitudinal opticalsensor is a transparent optical sensor.

Embodiment 14

The detector according to the preceding embodiment, wherein the lightbeam passes through the transparent optical sensor before impinging onthe other one of the transversal optical sensor and the longitudinaloptical sensor.

Embodiment 15

The detector according to any one of the preceding embodiments, whereinthe detector further comprises at least one imaging device.

Embodiment 16

The detector according to the preceding claim, wherein the detectorcomprises a stack of optical sensors, the optical sensors comprising theat least one transversal optical sensor and the at least onelongitudinal optical sensor, the stack further comprising the imagingdevice.

Embodiment 17

The detector according to the preceding claim, wherein the imagingdevice is located in a position of the stack furthest away from theobject.

Embodiment 18

The detector according to any of the three preceding embodiments,wherein the light beam passes through the at least one longitudinaloptical sensor before illuminating the imaging device.

Embodiment 19

The detector according to any of the four preceding embodiments, whereinthe imaging device comprises a camera.

Embodiment 20

The detector according to any of the five preceding embodiments, whereinthe imaging device comprises at least one of: an inorganic camera; amonochrome camera; a multichrome camera; a full-color camera; apixelated inorganic chip; a pixelated organic camera; a CCD chip,preferably a multicolor CCD chip or a full-color CCD chip; a CMOS chip;an IR camera; an RGB camera.

Embodiment 21

The detector according to any of the preceding embodiments, wherein thetransversal optical sensor and the longitudinal optical sensor at leastpartially are identical.

Embodiment 22

The detector according to any of the preceding embodiments, wherein thetransversal optical sensor and the longitudinal optical sensor at leastpartially are independent optical sensors.

Embodiment 23

The detector according to any of the preceding embodiments, wherein thetransversal optical sensor and the longitudinal optical sensor arestacked along the optical axis such that a light beam travelling alongthe optical axis both impinges on the transversal optical sensor and onthe longitudinal optical sensor.

Embodiment 24

The detector according to the preceding embodiment, wherein the lightbeam subsequently passes through the transversal optical sensor and thelongitudinal optical sensor or vice versa.

Embodiment 25

The detector according to any of the preceding embodiments, wherein thedetector furthermore has at least one modulation device for modulatingthe illumination.

Embodiment 26

The detector according to the preceding embodiment, wherein the detectoris designed to detect at least two longitudinal sensor signals in thecase of different modulations, in particular at least two sensor signalsat respectively different modulation frequencies, wherein the evaluationdevice is designed to generate the at least one item of information onthe longitudinal position of the object by evaluating the at least twolongitudinal sensor signals.

Embodiment 27

The detector according to any of the preceding embodiments, wherein thelongitudinal optical sensor is furthermore designed in such a way thatthe longitudinal sensor signal, given the same total power of theillumination, is dependent on a modulation frequency of a modulation ofthe illumination.

Embodiment 28

The detector according to any of the preceding embodiments, wherein thesensor region of the longitudinal optical sensor is exactly onecontinuous sensor region, wherein the longitudinal sensor signal is auniform sensor signal for the entire sensor region.

Embodiment 29

The detector according to any of the preceding embodiments, wherein thesensor region of the transversal optical sensor and/or the sensor regionof the longitudinal optical sensor is or comprises a sensor area, thesensor area being formed by a surface of the respective device, whereinthe surface faces towards the object or faces away from the object.

Embodiment 30

The detector according to any of the preceding embodiments, wherein thelongitudinal sensor signal is selected from the group consisting of acurrent and a voltage.

Embodiment 31

The detector according to any of the preceding embodiments, wherein thetransversal sensor signal is selected from the group consisting of acurrent and a voltage or any signal derived thereof.

Embodiment 32

The detector according to any of the preceding embodiments, wherein thelongitudinal optical sensor comprises at least one semiconductordetector, in particular an organic semiconductor detector comprising atleast one organic material, preferably an organic solar cell andparticularly preferably a dye solar cell or dye-sensitized solar cell,in particular a solid dye solar cell or a solid dye-sensitized solarcell.

Embodiment 33

The detector according to the preceding embodiment, wherein thelongitudinal optical sensor comprises at least one first electrode, atleast one n-semiconducting metal oxide, at least one dye, at least onep-semiconducting organic material, preferably a solid p-semiconductingorganic material, and at least one second electrode.

Embodiment 34

The detector according to the preceding embodiment, wherein both thefirst electrode and the second electrode are transparent.

Embodiment 35

The detector according to any of the preceding embodiments, wherein theevaluation device is designed to generate the at least one item ofinformation on the longitudinal position of the object from at least onepredefined relationship between the geometry of the illumination and arelative positioning of the object with respect to the detector,preferably taking account of a known power of the illumination andoptionally taking account of a modulation frequency with which theillumination is modulated.

Embodiment 36

The detector according to any of the preceding embodiments, furthermorecomprising at least one transfer device, wherein the transfer device isdesigned to feed light emerging from the object to the transversaloptical sensor and the longitudinal optical sensor.

Embodiment 37

The detector according to any of the preceding embodiments, furthermorecomprising at least one illumination source.

Embodiment 38

The detector according to the preceding embodiment, wherein theillumination source is selected from: an illumination source, which isat least partly connected to the object and/or is at least partlyidentical to the object; an illumination source which is designed to atleast partly illuminate the object with a primary radiation, wherein thelight beam preferably is generated by a reflection of the primaryradiation on the object and/or by light emission by the object itself,stimulated by the primary radiation.

Embodiment 39

The detector according to any of the preceding embodiments, wherein thedetector has a plurality of longitudinal optical sensors, wherein thelongitudinal optical sensors are stacked.

Embodiment 40

The detector according to the preceding embodiment, wherein thelongitudinal optical sensors are stacked along the optical axis.

Embodiment 41

The detector according to any of the two preceding embodiments, whereinthe longitudinal optical sensors form a longitudinal optical sensorstack, wherein the sensor regions of the longitudinal optical sensorsare oriented perpendicular to the optical axis.

Embodiment 42

The detector according to any of the three preceding embodiments,wherein the transversal optical sensor is located on a side of thestacked longitudinal optical sensors facing the object.

Embodiment 43

The detector according to any of the four preceding embodiments, whereinthe longitudinal optical sensors are arranged such that a light beamfrom the object illuminates all longitudinal optical sensors, preferablysequentially, wherein at least one longitudinal sensor signal isgenerated by each longitudinal optical sensor.

Embodiment 44

The detector according to any of the five preceding embodiments, whereina last longitudinal optical sensor is arranged in a manner that thelight beam first illuminates all other longitudinal optical sensorsapart from the last longitudinal optical sensor, until the light beamfinally illuminates the last longitudinal optical sensor.

Embodiment 45

The detector according to the preceding embodiment, wherein the lastlongitudinal optical sensor is intransparent with respect to the lightbeam.

Embodiment 46

The detector according to any of the seven preceding embodiments,wherein at least two of the longitudinal optical sensors have adiffering spectral sensitivities.

Embodiment 47

The detector according to the preceding embodiment, wherein thediffering spectral sensitivities are arranged over a spectral rangeallowing each of the at least two of the longitudinal optical sensors tobe sensitive to a specific color.

Embodiment 48

The detector according to the preceding embodiment, wherein thelongitudinal optical sensors comprise at least one first longitudinaloptical sensor absorbing light in a first spectral range, wherein thelongitudinal optical sensors further comprise at least one secondlongitudinal optical sensor absorbing light in a second spectral rangebeing different from the first spectral range, wherein the longitudinaloptical sensors further comprise at least one third longitudinal opticalsensor absorbing light in a third spectral range which includes both thefirst spectral range and the second spectral range.

Embodiment 49

The detector according to any of the six preceding embodiments, whereinthe evaluation device is adapted to normalize the longitudinal sensorsignals and to generate the information on the longitudinal position ofthe object independent from an intensity of the light beam.

Embodiment 50

The detector according to any of the seven preceding embodiments,wherein the evaluation device is adapted to recognize whether the lightbeam widens or narrows, by comparing the longitudinal sensor signals ofdifferent longitudinal sensors.

Embodiment 51

The detector according to any of the preceding embodiments, wherein thestack of at least two optical sensors is partially or fully be immersedin an oil, in a liquid and/or in a solid material.

Embodiment 52

The detector according to the preceding embodiment, wherein the oil, theliquid, and/or the solid material are transparent at least over a partof the ultraviolet, visible, and/or infrared spectral range.

Embodiment 53

The detector according to any of the two preceding embodiments, whereinthe solid material is generable by using at least one curable substanceand treating the curable substance with a treatment, by which treatmentthe curable substance is cured into the solid material.

Embodiment 54

The detector according to any of the three preceding embodiments,wherein a region between the at least two optical sensors is partiallyor fully filled with a substance.

Embodiment 55

The detector according to the preceding embodiment, wherein thesubstance exhibits a refractive index differing from that of the opticalsensors adjoining to the substance on one or both sides of the region.

Embodiment 56

The detector according to any of the preceding embodiments, wherein theat least one transversal optical sensor and/or the at least onelongitudinal optical sensor uses at least two transparent substrates.

Embodiment 57

The detector according to the preceding embodiment, wherein thesubstrates exhibit identical properties.

Embodiment 58

The detector according to any of the two preceding embodiments, whereinthe substrates differ from each other with regard to a geometricalquantity and/or to a material quantity related to the substrates.

Embodiment 59

The detector according to the preceding embodiment, wherein thesubstrates differ from each other by the thickness.

Embodiment 60

The detector according to any of the two preceding embodiments, whereinthe substrates differ from each other by shape.

Embodiment 61

The detector according to the preceding embodiment, wherein the shape isselected from the group comprising a planar, a planar-convex, aplanar-concave, a biconvex, a biconcave or any other form employed foroptical purposes.

Embodiment 62

The detector according to any of the six preceding embodiments, whereinthe substrates are rigid or flexible.

Embodiment 63

The detector according to any of the seven preceding embodiments,wherein the substrates are covered or coated.

Embodiment 63

The detector according to any of the eight preceding embodiments,wherein the substrate is shaped in a manner that it exhibits a mirroreffect.

Embodiment 64

The detector according to the preceding embodiment, wherein thesubstrate is shaped in a manner that it exhibits the effect of adichroic mirror.

Embodiment 65

The detector according to any of the preceding embodiments, wherein theevaluation device is adapted to generate the at least one item ofinformation on the longitudinal position of the object by determining adiameter of the light beam from the at least one longitudinal sensorsignal.

Embodiment 66

The detector according to the preceding embodiment, wherein theevaluation device is adapted to compare the diameter of the light beamwith known beam properties of the light beam in order to determine theat least one item of information on the longitudinal position of theobject, preferably from a known dependency of a beam diameter of thelight beam on at least one propagation coordinate in a direction ofpropagation of the light beam and/or from a known Gaussian profile ofthe light beam.

Embodiment 67

The detector according to any of the preceding embodiments, wherein thedetector comprises an optically sensitive element.

Embodiment 68

The detector according to the preceding embodiment, wherein theoptically sensitive element is located between the transfer device andthe optical sensor.

Embodiment 69

The detector according to any of the two preceding embodiments, whereinthe optically sensitive element comprises a wavelength-sensitiveelement, a phase-sensitive element, and/or a polarization-sensitiveelement.

Embodiment 70

The detector according to the preceding embodiment, wherein thewavelength-sensitive element comprises one or more of a prism, agrating, a dichroitic mirror, a color wheel, or a color drum.

Embodiment 71

The detector according to the preceding embodiment, wherein the colorwheel comprises a sequential color recapture wheel.

Embodiment 72

The detector according to any of the two preceding embodiments, whereinthe color wheel or the color drum comprises two or more of at least onered, green, blue, white, cyan, yellow, or magenta segment.

Embodiment 73

The detector according to embodiment 54, wherein thepolarization-sensitive element comprises a filter wheel using anelliptically polarizing filter.

Embodiment 74

The detector according to the preceding embodiment, wherein thepolarization-sensitive element comprises a filter wheel using a circularpolarizing filter.

Embodiment 75

The detector according to any of the two preceding embodiments, whereinthe optically sensitive element comprises at least two wheels, at leastone first wheel and at least one second wheel, wherein the first wheelconstitutes a color wheel and wherein the second wheel constitutes anelliptically polarizing filter.

Embodiment 76

An arrangement comprising at least two detectors according to any of thepreceding embodiments.

Embodiment 77

An arrangement according to the preceding embodiment, wherein the atleast two detectors have identical optical properties.

Embodiment 78

The arrangement according to any of the two preceding embodiments,wherein the arrangement further comprises at least one illuminationsource.

Embodiment 79

A human-machine interface for exchanging at least one item ofinformation between a user and a machine, in particular for inputtingcontrol commands, wherein the human-machine interface comprises at leastone detector according to any of the preceding embodiments relating to adetector, wherein the human-machine interface is designed to generate atleast one item of geometrical information of the user by means of thedetector wherein the human-machine interface is designed to assign tothe geometrical information at least one item of information, inparticular at least one control command.

Embodiment 80

The human-machine interface according to the preceding embodiment,wherein the at least one item of geometrical information of the user isselected from the group consisting of: a position of a body of the user;a position of at least one body part of the user; an orientation of abody of the user; an orientation of at least one body part of the user.

Embodiment 81

The human-machine interface according to any of the two precedingembodiments, wherein the human-machine interface further comprises atleast one beacon device connectable to the user, wherein thehuman-machine interface is adapted such that the detector may generatean information on the position of the at least one beacon device.

Embodiment 82

The human-machine interface according to the preceding embodiment,wherein the beacon device is one of a beacon device attachable to a bodyor a body part of the user and a beacon device which may be held by theuser.

Embodiment 83

The human-machine interface according to the preceding embodiment,wherein the beacon device comprises at least one illumination sourceadapted to generate at least one light beam to be transmitted to thedetector.

Embodiment 84

The human-machine interface according to any of the two precedingembodiments, wherein the beacon device comprises at least one reflectoradapted to reflect light generated by an illumination source, therebygenerating a reflected light beam to be transmitted to the detector.

Embodiment 85

The human-machine interface according to any of the three precedingembodiments, wherein the beacon device comprises at least one of: agarment to be worn by the user, preferably a garment selected from thegroup consisting of a glove, a jacket, a hat, shoes, trousers and asuit; a stick that may be held by hand; a bat; a club; a racket; a cane;a toy, such as a toy gun.

Embodiment 86

An entertainment device for carrying out at least one entertainmentfunction, in particular a game, wherein the entertainment devicecomprises at least one human-machine interface according to any of thepreceding embodiments referring to a human-machine interface, whereinthe entertainment device is designed to enable at least one item ofinformation to be input by a player by means of the human-machineinterface, wherein the entertainment device is designed to vary theentertainment function in accordance with the information.

Embodiment 87

A tracking system for tracking the position of at least one movableobject, the tracking system comprising at least one detector accordingto any of the preceding embodiments referring to a detector, thetracking system further comprising at least one track controller,wherein the track controller is adapted to track a series of positionsof the object, each position comprising at least one item of informationon a transversal position of the object at a specific point in time andat least one item of information on a longitudinal position of theobject at a specific point in time.

Embodiment 88

The tracking system according to the preceding embodiment, wherein thetracking system further comprises at least one beacon device connectableto the object, wherein the tracking system is adapted such that thedetector may generate an information on the position of the object ofthe at least one beacon device.

Embodiment 89

The tracking system according to the preceding embodiment, wherein thebeacon device comprises at least one illumination source adapted togenerate at least one light beam to be transmitted to the detector.

Embodiment 90

The tracking system according to any of the two preceding embodiments,wherein the beacon device comprises at least one reflector adapted toreflect light generated by an illumination source, thereby generating areflected light beam to be transmitted to the detector.

Embodiment 91

The tracking system according to any of the preceding embodimentsreferring to a tracking system, wherein the track controller is adaptedto initiate at least one action in accordance with an actual position ofthe object.

Embodiment 92

The tracking system according to the preceding embodiment, wherein theaction is selected from the group consisting of: a prediction of afuture position of the object; pointing at least one device towards theobject; pointing at least one device towards the detector; illuminatingthe object; illuminating the detector.

Embodiment 93

A camera for imaging at least one object, the camera comprising at leastone detector according to any one of the preceding embodiments referringto a detector.

Embodiment 94

A method for determining a position of at least one object, inparticular using a detector according to any of the precedingembodiments relating to a detector,

-   -   wherein at least one transversal optical sensor of a detector is        used, wherein the transversal optical sensor determines a        transversal position of at least one light beam traveling from        the object to the detector, the transversal position being a        position in at least one dimension perpendicular to an optical        axis of the detector, wherein the transversal optical sensor        generates at least one transversal sensor signal;    -   wherein at least one longitudinal optical sensor of the detector        is used, wherein the longitudinal optical sensor has at least        one sensor region, wherein the longitudinal optical sensor        generates at least one longitudinal sensor signal in a manner        dependent on an illumination of the sensor region by the light        beam, wherein the longitudinal sensor signal, given the same        total power of the illumination, is dependent on a beam        cross-section of the light beam in the sensor region;    -   wherein at least one evaluation device is used, wherein the        evaluation device generates at least one item of information on        a transversal position of the object by evaluating the        transversal sensor signal and wherein the evaluation device        further generates at least one item of information on a        longitudinal position of the object by evaluating the        longitudinal sensor signal.

Embodiment 95

The use of a detector according to any of the preceding embodimentsrelating to a detector, for a purpose of use, selected from the groupconsisting of: a distance measurement, in particular in traffictechnology; a position measurement, in particular in traffic technology;an entertainment application; a security application; a human-machineinterface application; a tracking application; a photographyapplication; an imaging application or camera application; a mappingapplication for generating maps of at least one space.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

Further optional details and features of the invention are evident fromthe description of preferred exemplary embodiments which follows inconjunction with the dependent claims. In this context, the particularfeatures may be implemented alone or with several in combination. Theinvention is not restricted to the exemplary embodiments. The exemplaryembodiments are shown schematically in the figures. Identical referencenumerals in the individual figures refer to identical elements orelements with identical function, or elements which correspond to oneanother with regard to their functions.

Specifically, in the figures:

FIG. 1A shows an exemplary embodiment of a detector according to thepresent invention;

FIG. 1B shows a further exemplary embodiment of a detector according tothe present invention;

FIG. 1C shows a further exemplary embodiment of a detector according tothe present invention;

FIGS. 2A and 2B show different views of an embodiment of a transversaldetector which may be used in the detector of the present invention;

FIGS. 3A to 3D show principles of generating transversal sensor signalsand deriving information on a transversal position of an object;

FIGS. 4A to 4C show different views of embodiments of a longitudinaloptical sensor which may be used in the detector according to thepresent invention;

FIGS. 5A to 5E show the principle of generating longitudinal sensorsignals and deriving information on a longitudinal position of anobject; and

FIG. 6 shows a schematic embodiment of a human-machine interface and ofan entertainment device according to the present invention.

EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

Detector

FIG. 1A illustrates, in a highly schematic illustration, an exemplaryembodiment of a detector 110 according to the invention, for determininga position of at least one object 112. The detector 110 preferably mayform a camera 111 or may be part of a camera 111. Other embodiments arefeasible.

The detector 110 comprises a plurality of optical sensors 114, which, inthe specific embodiment, are all stacked along an optical axis 116 ofthe detector 110. Specifically, the optical axis 116 may be an axis ofsymmetry and/or rotation of the setup of the optical sensors 114. Theoptical sensors 114 may be located inside a of the detector 110.Further, at least one transfer device 120 may be comprised, such as oneor more optical systems, preferably comprising one or more lenses 122.An opening 124 in the housing 118, which, preferably, is locatedconcentrically with regard to the optical axis 116, preferably defines adirection of view 126 of the detector 110. A coordinate system 128 maybe defined, in which a direction parallel or antiparallel to the opticalaxis 116 is defined as a longitudinal direction, whereas directionsperpendicular to the optical axis 116 may be defined as transversaldirections. In the coordinate system 128, symbolically depicted in FIG.1A, a longitudinal direction is denoted by z and transversal directionsare denoted by x and y, respectively. Other types of coordinate systems128 are feasible.

The optical sensors 114 comprise at least one transversal optical sensor130 and, in this embodiment, a plurality of longitudinal optical sensors132. The longitudinal optical sensors 132 form a longitudinal opticalsensor stack 134. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1A, five longitudinalsensors 132 are depicted. It shall be noted, however, that embodimentshaving a different number of longitudinal optical sensors 132 arefeasible.

The transversal optical sensor 132 comprises a sensor region 136, which,preferably, is transparent to a light beam 138 travelling from theobject 112 to the detector 110. The transversal optical sensor 130 isadapted to determine a transversal position of the light beam 138 in oneor more transversal directions, such as in direction x and/or indirection y. Therein, embodiments are feasible in which a transversalposition in only one transversal direction is determined, embodiments inwhich transversal positions in more than one transversal direction aredetermined by one and the same transversal optical sensor 130, andembodiments in which a transversal position in a first transversaldirection is determined by a first transversal optical sensor andwherein at least one further transversal position in at least onefurther transversal direction is determined by at least one furthertransversal optical sensor.

The at least one transversal optical sensor 130 is adapted to generateat least one transversal sensor signal. This transversal sensor signalmay be transmitted by one or more transversal signal leads 140 to atleast one evaluation device 142 of the detector 110, which will beexplained in further detail below.

The longitudinal optical sensors 132 each comprise at least one sensorregion 136, too. Preferably, one, more or all of the longitudinaloptical sensors 132 are transparent, but the last longitudinal opticalsensor 144 of the longitudinal optical sensor stack 134, i.e. thelongitudinal optical sensor 132 on the side of the stack 134 facing awayfrom the object 112. This last longitudinal sensor 144 may fully orpartially be intransparent.

Each of the longitudinal optical sensors 132 is designed to generate atleast one longitudinal sensor signal in a manner dependent on anillumination of the respective sensor region 136 by the light beam 138.The longitudinal sensor signals, given the same total power of theillumination, is dependent on a beam cross-section of the light beam 138in the respective sensor region 136, as will be outlined in furtherdetail below. Via one or more longitudinal signal leads 146, thelongitudinal sensor signals may be transmitted to the evaluation device142. As will be outlined in further detail below, the evaluation devicemay be designed to generate at least one item of information on at leastone transversal position of the object 112 by evaluating the at leastone transversal sensor signal and to generate at least one item ofinformation on at least one longitudinal position of the object 112 byevaluating the longitudinal sensor signal. For this purpose, theevaluation device 142 may comprise one or more electronic devices and/orone or more software components, in order to evaluate the sensorsignals, which is symbolically denoted by transversal evaluation unit148 (denoted by “xy”) and longitudinal evaluation unit 150 (denoted by“z”). By combining results derived by these evolution units 148, 150, aposition information 152, preferably a three-dimensional positioninformation, may be generated (denoted by “x, y, z”).

The evaluation device 142 may be part of a data processing device 154and/or may comprise one or more data processing devices 154. Theevaluation device 142 may be fully or partially integrated into thehousing 118 and/or may fully or partially be embodied as a separatedevice which is electrically connected in a wireless or wire-boundfashion to the optical sensors 114. The evaluation device 142 mayfurther comprise one or more additional components, such as one or moreelectronic hardware components and/or one or more software components,such as one or more measurement units (not depicted in FIG. 1A) and/orone or more transformation units 156. Symbolically, in FIG. 1A, oneoptional transformation unit 156 is depicted which may be adapted totransform at least two transversal sensor signals into a common signalor common information.

In the following, embodiments of the transversal optical sensor 130 andthe at least one longitudinal optical sensor 132 are disclosed. It shallbe noted, however, that other embodiments are feasible. Thus, in theembodiments disclosed hereinafter, the optical sensors 114 are alldesigned as solid dye-sensitized solar cells (sDSCs). It shall be noted,however, that other embodiments are feasible.

FIG. 1B illustrates, in a highly schematic illustration, a furtherexemplary embodiment of the detector 110 according to the presentinvention, for determining a position of the at least one object 112. Inthis particular embodiment, the detector 110 may comprise one or moreillumination sources 192, which may include an ambient light sourceand/or an artificial light source, and/or may comprise one or morereflective elements which may, for example, be connected to the object112 for reflecting one or more primary light beams 206, as indicated inFIG. 1B. In addition or alternatively, the light beam 138 which emergesfrom the object 112 can fully or partially be generated by the object112 itself, for example in the form of a luminescent radiation.

The optical sensors 114 comprise at least one transversal optical sensor130 and, in this embodiment, a plurality of longitudinal optical sensors132. The longitudinal optical sensors 132 form a longitudinal opticalsensor stack 134. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1B, five longitudinaloptical sensors 132 are depicted, wherein the last longitudinal opticalsensor 144 comprises a single longitudinal optical sensor 132 out of theplurality of the longitudinal optical sensors 132 within thelongitudinal optical sensor stack 134 which faces away from the object112. In this embodiment, it is particularly preferred to arrange thelast longitudinal optical sensor 144 in the longitudinal optical sensorstack 134 in a manner that a light beam 138 first travels through theplurality of the longitudinal optical sensors 132 within thelongitudinal optical sensor stack 134 until it impinges the lastlongitudinal optical sensor 144.

The last longitudinal optical sensor 144 may be configured in variousways. Thus, the last longitudinal optical sensor 144 can for example bepart of the detector 110 within the detector housing 118. Alternatively,the last longitudinal optical sensor 144 may be arranged outside thedetector housing 118. It shall be emphasized that embodiments having adifferent number of longitudinal optical sensors 132 within thelongitudinal optical sensor stack 134 are feasible.

Whereas the plurality of the longitudinal optical sensors 132 within thelongitudinal optical sensor stack 134 with the exception of the lastlongitudinal optical sensor 144 preferably are at least partially aretransparent, particularly to enabling a high relative intensity at eachof these longitudinal optical sensors 132, the last longitudinal opticalsensor 144 may either be transparent or intransparent. In case the lastlongitudinal optical sensor 144 is transparent, it may be feasible tofurther place an additional optical sensor behind the longitudinaloptical sensor stack 134, such as a separate imaging device 157 in amanner that a light beam 138 first travels through the plurality of thelongitudinal optical sensors 132 including the last longitudinal opticalsensor 144 until it impinges on the imaging device 157.

The imaging device 157 may be configured in various ways. Thus, theimaging device 157 can for example be part of the detector 110 withinthe detector housing 118. Alternatively, the imaging device 157 may beseparately located outside the detector housing 118. The imaging device157 may be fully or partially transparent or intransparent. The imagingdevice 157 may be or may comprise an organic imaging device or aninorganic imaging device. Preferably, the imaging device 157 maycomprise at least one matrix of pixels, wherein the matrix of pixels isparticularly selected from the group consisting of: an inorganicsemiconductor sensor device such as a CCD chip and/or a CMOS chip; anorganic semiconductor sensor device. The imaging device signal may betransmitted by one or more imaging device signal leads 159 to at leastone evaluation device 142 of the detector 110, which will be explainedin further detail below.

In a further preferred embodiment, at least two of the longitudinaloptical sensors 132 exhibit a differing spectral sensitivity.Preferably, a last longitudinal optical sensor 144, which preferably isintransparent, is configured to absorb all over the spectral ranges ofthe at least two of the longitudinal optical sensors have the differingspectral sensitivity. By way of example, the differing spectralsensitivity of at least two of the longitudinal optical sensors 132varies over spectral range in a manner that the at least two of thelongitudinal optical sensors 132 are sensitive to a specific colorwhereas the intransparent last longitudinal optical sensor 144 isadapted to be sensitive to all colors of the visible spectra range. In aspecific embodiment, the longitudinal optical sensors 132 with theexception of the last longitudinal optical sensor 144 are each sensitiveto a different specific color with little overlap. This featureparticularly allows reliably acquiring depth information for a coloredobject 112 irrespective of the specific color of the object 112, forwhich information at least two of the longitudinal optical sensors 132are required, as described above. This feature is realized by the factthat for each color, absorption of the light beam 118 always occurs atleast in two of the longitudinal optical sensors 132, i.e. in the one ofthe longitudinal optical sensor 132 which is sensitive to the specificcolor of the object 112, as well as in the last longitudinal opticalsensor 144 being sensitive to all colors.

With respect to the other features as presented in an exemplary fashionin FIG. 1B, reference is made to the above description of FIG. 1A.

A further exemplary embodiment of the detector 110 according to thepresent invention is shown in FIG. 1C in a highly schematic manner. Inthis particular embodiment, the detector 110 may comprise one or moreoptically sensitive elements 161 which may particularly be placed alongthe optical axis 116 of the detector 110. As depicted herein, theoptically sensitive element 161 may preferably be located between thetransfer device 120, which here comprises one lens 122, and the opticalsensor 114, which, in this embodiment, comprises at least onetransversal optical sensor 130 and a plurality of longitudinal opticalsensors 132 forming a longitudinal optical sensor stack 134. Theoptically sensitive element 161 may be configured in a number of ways,such as a wavelength-sensitive element, a phase-sensitive element, or apolarization-sensitive element.

As a non-limiting example, a wavelength-sensitive element comprising acolor wheel 163 may be employed here as the optically sensitive element161. Alternative wavelength-sensitive elements may comprise one or moreof a prism, a grating, and/or a dichroitic mirror. The color-wheel 163may especially comprise a circle around which at least two, preferablytwo to eight, separate segments are arranged which may differ from eachother by their optical effect, particularly a grade of transmission, tothe impinging light beam 138. Herein, the separate segments may each actas a filter which may allow determining a contribution of the colors red(R), green (G), and blue (B), also designated as “RGB color wheel”.Alternatively, the color wheel 163 commonly designated as a “RGB-W colorwheel” and additionally comprising a white (W) segment may be employed.As a further alternative, the color wheel 163 may comprise clear ortransparent segments which may be used to increase luminous efficiency.Furthermore, the color wheel 163 may, alternatively or additionally,comprise one or more of the colors cyan, yellow, and magenta. A furtheralternative may comprise a so-called “color drum”, wherein the segmentsare arranged on the inner surface of a drum where the incident lightbeam may be directed through in order to impinge an optical sensor.

Moreover, a sequential color recapture wheel (SCR wheel) may begenerated from RGB dichroic coatings arranged in an Archimedes spiralpattern. Herein, the Archimedes spiral may exhibit the property that theboundaries between two segments may move at a constant speed in radialdirection. Furthermore, it may be possible to include also here white orclear segments. Further examples for rotating color wheels, such asknown from video beamer devices, and for color drums may be found underthe address www.hcinema.de/farbrad.htm.

With respect to the other features as presented in an exemplary fashionin FIG. 1C, reference is made to the above descriptions concerning FIGS.1A and/or 1B.

In FIGS. 2A and 2B, different views of a potential embodiment of atransversal optical sensor 130 are depicted. Therein, FIG. 2A shows atop-view on a layer setup of the transversal optical sensor 130, whereasFIG. 2B shows a partial cross-sectional view of the layer setup in aschematic setup. For alternative embodiments of the layer setup,reference may be made to the disclosure above.

The transversal optical sensor 130 comprises a transparent substrate158, such as a substrate made of glass and/or a transparent plasticmaterial. The setup further comprises a first electrode 160, an opticalblocking layer 162, at least one n-semiconducting metal oxide 164,sensitized with at least one dye 166, at least one p-semiconductingorganic material 168 and at least one second electrode 170. Theseelements are depicted in FIG. 2B. The setup may further comprise atleast one encapsulation 172 which is not depicted in FIG. 2B and whichis symbolically depicted in the top-view of FIG. 2A, which may cover asensor region 136 of the transversal optical sensor 130.

As an exemplary embodiment, the substrate 158 may be made of glass, thefirst electrode 160 may fully or partially be made of fluorine-doped tinoxide (FTO), the blocking layer 162 may be made of dense titaniumdioxide (TIO2), the n-semiconducting metal oxide 164 may be made ofnonporous titanium dioxide, the p-semiconducting organic material 168may be made of spiro-MiOTAD, and the second electrode 170 may comprisePEDOT:PSS. Further, dye ID504-, as e.g. disclosed in WO 2012/110924 A1,may be used. Other embodiments are feasible.

As depicted in FIGS. 2A and 2B, the first electrode 160 may be alarge-area electrode, which may be contacted by a single electrodecontact 174. As depicted in the top-view in FIG. 2A, the electrodecontacts 174 of the first electrode 160 may be located in corners of thetransversal optical sensor 130. By providing more than one electrodecontact 174, a redundancy may be generated, and resistive losses overthe first electrode 160 might be eliminated, thereby generating a commonsignal for the first electrode 160.

Contrarily, the second electrode 170 comprises at least two partialelectrodes 176. As can be seen in the top-view in FIG. 2A, the secondelectrode 170 may comprise at least two partial electrodes 178 for anx-direction, and at least two partial electrodes 180 for a y-directionvia contact leads 182, these partial electrodes 176 may be contactedelectrically through the encapsulation 172.

The partial electrodes 176, in this specific embodiment, form a framewhich surrounds the sensor region 136. As an example, a rectangular or,more preferably, a square frame may be formed. By using appropriatecurrent measurement devices, electrode currents through the partialelectrodes 176 may be determined individually, such as by currentmeasurement devices implemented into the evaluation device 142. Bycomparing e.g. electrode currents through the two single x-partialelectrodes 178, and by comparing the electrode currents through theindividual y-partial electrodes 180, x- and y-coordinates of a lightspot 184 generated by the light beam 138 in the sensor region 136 may bedetermined, as for the outlined with respect to FIGS. 3A to 3D below.

In FIGS. 3A to 3D, two different situations of a positioning of theobject 112 are depicted. Thus, FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B show a situation inwhich the object 112 is located on the optical axis 116 of the detector110. Therein, FIG. 3A shows a side-view and FIG. 3B shows a top-viewonto the sensor region 136 of the transversal optical sensor 130. Thelongitudinal optical sensors 132 are not depicted in this setup.

In FIGS. 3C and 3D, the setup of FIGS. 3A and 3B is depicted inanalogous views with the object 112 shifted in a transversal direction,to an off-axis position.

It shall be noted that, in FIGS. 3A and 3C, the object 112 is depictedas the source of one or more light beams 138. As will be outlined infurther detail below, specifically with respect the embodiment in FIG.6, the detector 110 may as well comprise one or more illuminationsources which may be connected to the object 112 and, thus, which mayemit the light beams 138, and/or which might be adapted to illuminatethe object 112 and, by the object 112 reflecting primary light beams,generate the light beams 138 by reflection and/or diffusion.

According to well-known imaging equations, the object 112 is imaged ontothe sensor region 136 of the transversal optical sensor 130, therebygenerating an image 186 of the object 112 on the sensor region 136,which, in the following, will be considered a light spot 184 and/or aplurality of light spots 184.

As can be seen in the partial images 3B and 3D, the light spot 184 onthe sensor region 136 will lead, by generating charges in the layersetup of the sDSC, electrode currents, which, in each case, are denotedby i₁ to i₄. Therein, electrode currents i₁, i₂ denote electrodecurrents through partial electrodes 180 in y-direction and electrodecurrents i₃, i₄ denote electrode currents through partial electrodes 178in x-direction. These electrode currents may be measured by one or moreappropriate electrode measurement devices simultaneously orsequentially. By evaluating these electrode currents, x- andy-coordinates may be determined. Thus, the following equations may beused:

$x_{0} = {f\left( \frac{i_{3} - i_{4}}{i_{3} + i_{4}} \right)}$ and$y_{0} = {{f\left( \frac{i_{1} - i_{2}}{i_{1} + i_{2}} \right)}.}$

Therein, f might be an arbitrary known function, such as a simplemultiplication of the quotient of the currents with a known stretchfactor and/or an addition of an offset. Thus, generally, the electrodecurrents i₁ to i₄ might form transversal sensor signals generated by thetransversal optical sensor 130, whereas the evaluation device 142 mightbe adapted to generate information on a transversal position, such as atleast one x-coordinate and/or at least one y-coordinate, by transformingthe transversal sensor signals by using a predetermined or determinabletransformation algorithm and/or a known relationship.

In FIGS. 4A to 4C, various views of longitudinal optical sensors 132 areshown. Therein, FIG. 4A shows a cross-sectional view of a potentiallayer setup, and FIGS. 4B and 4C show top-view of two embodiments ofpotential longitudinal optical sensors 132. Therein, FIG. 4C shows apotential embodiment of the last longitudinal optical sensor 144,wherein FIG. 4B shows potential embodiments of the remaininglongitudinal optical sensors 132 of the longitudinal optical sensorstack 134. Thus, the embodiment in FIG. 4B may form a transparentlongitudinal optical sensor 132, whereas the embodiment in FIG. 4C maybe an intransparent longitudinal optical sensor 132. Other embodimentsare feasible. Thus, the last longitudinal optical sensor 144,alternatively, might also be embodied as a transparent longitudinaloptical sensor 132.

As can be seen in the schematic cross-sectional view in FIG. 4A, thelongitudinal optical sensor 132 again, might be embodied as an organicphoto-detector, preferably as an sDSC. Thus, similarly to the setup ofFIG. 2B, a layer setup using a substrate 158, a first electrode 160, ablocking layer 162, an n-semiconducting metal oxide 164 being sensitizedwith a dye 166, a p-semiconducting organic material 168 and a secondelectrode 170 may be used. Additionally, an encapsulation 172 may beprovided. For potential materials of the layers, reference may be madeto FIG. 2B above. Additionally or alternatively, other types ofmaterials may be used.

It shall be noted that, in FIG. 2B, an illumination from the top issymbolically depicted, i.e. an illumination by the light beam 138 fromthe side of the second electrode 170. Alternatively, an illuminationfrom the bottom, i.e. from the side of the substrate 158 and through thesubstrate 158, may be used. The same holds true for the setup of FIG.4A.

However, as depicted in FIG. 4A, in a preferred orientation of thelongitudinal optical sensor 132, an illumination by the light beam 138preferably takes place from the bottom, i.e. through the transparentsubstrate 158. This is due to the fact that the first electrode 160 mayeasily be embodied as a transparent electrode, such as by using atransparent conductive oxide, such as FTO. The second electrode 170, aswill be outlined in further detail below may either be transparent or,specifically, for the last longitudinal optical sensor 144,intransparent.

In FIG. 4B and FIG. 4C, different setups of the second electrode 170 aredepicted. Therein, in FIG. 4B, corresponding to the cross-sectional viewof FIG. 4A, the first electrode 160 may be contacted by one or moreelectrode contacts 174, which, as an example, may comprise one or moremetal pads, similar to the setup in FIG. 2B. These electrode contacts174 may be located in the corners of the substrate 158. Otherembodiments are feasible.

The second electrode 170, however, in the setup of FIG. 4B may compriseone or more layers of a transparent electrically conductive polymer 188.As an example, similar to the setup of FIGS. 2A and 2B, PEDOT:PSS may beused. Further, one or more top contacts 190 may be provided, which maybe made of a metallic material, such as aluminum and/or silver. By usingone or more contact leads 182, leading through the encapsulation 172,this top contact 190 may be electrically contacted.

In the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 4B, the top contact 190 formsa closed opened frame surrounding the sensor region 136. Thus, asopposed to the partial electrodes 176 in FIGS. 2A and 2B, only one topcontact 190 is required. However, the longitudinal optical sensor 132and the transversal optical sensor 130 may be combined in one singledevice, such as by providing partial electrodes in the setup of FIGS. 4Ato 4C. Thus, in addition to the FiP effect which will be outlined infurther detail below, transversal sensor signals may be generated withthe longitudinal optical sensor 132. Thereby, a combined transversal andlongitudinal optical sensor may be provided.

The use of the transparent electrically conductive polymer 188 allowsfor an embodiment of the longitudinal optical sensor 132 in which boththe first electrode 160 and the second electrode 170 are at leastpartially transparent. The same, preferably, holds true for thetransversal optical sensor 130. In FIG. 4C, however, a setup of thelongitudinal optical sensor 132 is disclosed which uses an intransparentsecond electrode 170. Thus, as an example, the second electrode 170 maybe embodied by using one or more metal layers, such as aluminum and/orsilver, instead of or in addition to the at least one electricallyconductive polymer 188. Thus, as an example, the electrically conductivepolymer 188 may be replaced or may be reinforced by one or more metallayers which, preferably, may cover the full sensor region 136.

In FIGS. 5A to 5E, the above-mentioned FiP effect shall be explained.Therein, FIG. 5A shows a side-view of a part of a detector 110, in aplain parallel to the optical axis 116, similar to the setup in FIGS. 1,3A and 3C. Of the detector 110, only the longitudinal optical sensors132 and the transfer device 120 are depicted. Not shown is at least onetransversal optical sensor 130. This transversal optical sensor 130 maybe embodied as a separate optical sensor 114 and/or may be combined withone or more of the longitudinal optical sensors 132.

Again, the measurement starts with an emission and/or reflection of oneor more light beams 138 by at least one object 112. The object 112 maycomprise an illumination source 192, which may be considered as a partof the detector 110. Additionally or alternatively, a separateillumination source 192 may be used.

Due to a characteristic of the light beam 138 itself and/or due to beamshaping characteristics of the transfer device 120, preferably of the atleast one lens 122, the beam properties of the light beam 138 in theregion of the longitudinal optical sensors 132 at least partially areknown. Thus, as depicted in FIG. 5A, one or more focal points 194 mightoccur. In the focal point 194, a beam waist or a cross-section of thelight beam 138 may assume a minimum value.

In FIG. 5B, in a top-view onto the sensor regions 136 of thelongitudinal optical sensors 132 in FIG. 5A, a development of the lightspots 184 generated by the light beam 138 impinging on the sensorregions 136 is depicted. As can be seen, close to the focal point 194,the cross-section of the light spot 184 assumes a minimum value.

In FIG. 5C, a photo current I of the longitudinal optical sensors 132 isgiven for the five cross-sections of the light spot 184 in FIG. 5B, incase longitudinal optical sensors 132 exhibiting the above-mentioned FiPeffect are used. Thus, as an exemplary embodiment, five different photocurrents I for the spot cross-sections as shown in FIG. 5B are shown fortypical DSC devices preferably sDSC devices. The photo current I isdepicted as a function of the area A of the light spot 184, which is ameasure of the cross-section of the light spots 184.

As can be seen in FIG. 5C, the photo current I, even if all longitudinaloptical sensors 132 are illuminated with the same total power of theillumination, the photo current I is dependent on the cross-section ofthe light beam 138, such as by providing a strong dependency on thecross-sectional area A and/or the beam waist of the light spot 184.Thus, the photo current is a function both of the power of the lightbeam 138 and of the cross-section of the light beam 138:I=f(n,a).

Therein, I denotes the photo current provided by each longitudinaloptical sensor 132, such as a photo current measured in arbitrary units,as a voltage over at least one measurement resistor and/or in amps. ndenotes the overall number of photons impinging on the sensor region 136and/or the overall power of the light beam in the sensor region 136. Adenotes the beam cross-section of the light beam 138, provided inarbitrary units, as a beam waist, as a beam diameter of beam radius oras an area of the light spot 134. As an example, the beam cross-sectionmay be calculated by the 1/e² diameter of the light spot 184, i.e. across-sectional distance from a first point on a first side of a maximumintensity having an intensity of 1/e² as compared to the maximumintensity of the light spot 184, to a point on the other side of themaximum having the same intensity. Other options of quantifying the beamcross-section are feasible.

The setup in FIG. 5C shows the photo current of a longitudinal opticalsensor 132 according to the present invention which may be used in thedetector 110 according to the present invention, showing theabove-mentioned FiP effect. Contrarily, FIG. 5D in a diagramcorresponding to the diagram of FIG. 5C, photo currents of traditionaloptical sensors are shown, for the same setup as depicted in FIG. 5A. Asan example, silicon photo detectors may be used for this measurement. Ascan be seen, in these traditional measurements, the photo current orphoto signal of the detectors is independent from the beam cross-sectionA.

Thus, by evaluating the photo currents and/or other types oflongitudinal sensor signals of the longitudinal optical sensors 132 ofthe detector 110, the light beam 138 may be characterized. Since theoptical characteristics of the light beam 138 depend on the distance ofthe object 112 from the detector 110, by evaluating these longitudinalsensor signals, a position of the object 112 along the optical axis 116,i.e. a z-position, may be determined. For this purpose, the photocurrents of the longitudinal optical sensors 132 may be transformed,such as by using one or more known relationships between the photocurrent I and the position of the object 112, into at least one item ofinformation on a longitudinal position of the object 112, i.e. az-position. Thus, as an example, the position of the focal point 194 maybe determined by evaluating the sensor signals, and a correlationbetween the focal point 194 and a position of the object 112 in thez-direction may be used for generating the above-mentioned information.Additionally or alternatively, a widening and/or narrowing of the lightbeam 138 may be evaluated by comparing the sensor signals of thelongitudinal sensors 132. As an example, known beam properties may beassumed, such as a beam propagation of the light beam 138 according toGaussian laws, using one or more Gaussian beam parameters.

Further, the use of a plurality of longitudinal optical sensors 132provides additional advantages as opposed to the use of a singlelongitudinal optical sensor 132. Thus, as outlined above, the overallpower of the light beam 138 generally might be unknown. By normalizingthe longitudinal sensor signals, such as to a maximum value, thelongitudinal sensor signals might be rendered independent from theoverall power of the light beam 138, and a relationshipI _(n) =g(A)

may be used by using normalized photo currents and/or normalizedlongitudinal sensor signals, which is independent from the overall powerof the light beam 138.

Additionally, by using the plurality of longitudinal optical sensors132, an ambiguity of the longitudinal sensor signals may be resolved.Thus, as can be seen by comparing the first and the last image in FIG.5B and/or by comparing the second and the fourth image in FIG. 5B,and/or by comparing the corresponding photo currents in FIG. 5C,longitudinal optical sensors 132 being positioned at a specific distancebefore or behind the focal point 194 may lead to the same longitudinalsensor signals. A similar ambiguity might arise in case the light beam138 weakens during propagations along the optical axis 116, which mightgenerally be corrected empirically and/or by calculation. In order toresolve this ambiguity in the z-position, the plurality of longitudinalsensor signals clearly shows the position of the focal point and of themaximum. Thus, by e.g. comparing with one or more neighboringlongitudinal sensor signals, it may be determined whether a specificlongitudinal optical sensor 132 is located before or beyond a focalpoint on the longitudinal axis.

In FIG. 5E, a longitudinal sensor signal for a typical example of ansDSC is depicted, in order to demonstrate the possibility of thelongitudinal sensor signal and the above-mentioned FiP effect beingdependent on a modulation frequency. In this figure, a short-circuitcurrent Isc is given as the longitudinal sensor signal on the verticalaxis, in arbitrary units, for a variety of modulation frequencies f. Onthe horizontal axis, a longitudinal coordinate z is depicted. Thelongitudinal coordinate z, given in micrometers, is chosen such that aposition of a focus of the light beam on the z-axis is denoted byposition 0, such that all longitudinal coordinates z on the horizontalaxis are given as a distance to the focal point of the light beam.Consequently, since the beam cross-section of the light beam depends onthe distance from the focal point, the longitudinal coordinate in FIG.5E denotes the beam cross-section in arbitrary units. As an example, aGaussian light beam may be assumed, with known or determinable beamparameters, in order to transform the longitudinal coordinate into aspecific beam waist or beam cross-section.

In this experiment, longitudinal sensor signals are provided for avariety of modulation frequencies of the light beam, for 0 Hz (nomodulation), 7 Hz, 377 Hz and 777 Hz. As can be seen in the figure, formodulation frequency 0 Hz, no FiP effect or only a very small FiPeffect, which may not easily be distinguished from the noise of thelongitudinal sensor signal, may be detected. For higher modulationfrequencies, a pronounced dependency of the longitudinal sensor signalon the cross section of the light beam may be observed. Typically,modulation frequencies in the range of 0.1 Hz to 10 kHz may be used forthe detector according to the present invention, such as modulationfrequencies of 0.3 Hz.

Human-Machine Interface, Entertainment Device and Tracking System:

In FIG. 6, an exemplary embodiment of a human-machine interface 196according to the invention, which can simultaneously also be embodied asan exemplary embodiment of an entertainment device 198 according to theinvention or which can be a constituent part of such an entertainmentdevice 198, is depicted. Further, the human-machine interface 196 and/orthe entertainment device 198 may also form an exemplary embodiment of atracking system 199 adapted for tracking a user 200 and/or one or morebody parts of the user 200. Thus, a motion of one or more of the bodyparts of the user 200 may be tracked.

By way of example, at least one detector 110, according to the presentinvention can once again be provided, for example, in accordance withone or more of the embodiments described above, with one or a pluralityof optical sensors 114, which may comprise one or more transversaloptical sensors 130 and one or more longitudinal optical sensors 132.Further elements of the detector 110 can be provided, which are notillustrated in FIG. 6, such as, for example, elements of an optionaltransfer device 120. For a potential embodiment, reference may be madeto FIGS. 1A and/or B. Furthermore, one or a plurality of illuminationsources 192 may be provided. Generally, with regard to these possibleembodiments of the detector 110, reference can be made for example tothe description above.

The human-machine interface 196 can be designed to enable an exchange ofat least one item of information between a user 200 and a machine 202,which is merely indicated in FIG. 6. For example, in exchange of controlcommands, and/or information may be performed by using the human-machineinterface 196. The machine 202 can comprise, in principle, any desireddevice having at least one function which can be controlled and/orinfluenced in some way. At least one evaluation device 142 of the atleast one detector 110 and/or a part thereof can, as indicated in FIG.6, be wholly or partially integrated into said machine 201, but can, inprinciple, also be formed fully or partially separately from the machine202.

The human-machine interface 196 can be designed for example to generate,by means of the detector 110, at least one item of geometricalinformation of the user 200 by means of the detector 110 and can assignthe geometrical information at least to one item of information, inparticular at least one control command. For this purpose, by way ofexamples, by means of the detector 110, a movement and/or a change inposture of the user 200 can be identified. For example, as indicated inFIG. 6, a hand movement and/or a specific hand posture of the user 200may be detected. Additionally or alternatively, other types ofgeometrical information of the user 200 may be detected by the one ormore detectors 110. For this purpose, one or more positions and/or oneor more position information regarding the user 200 and/or one or morebody parts of the user 200 may be identified by the at least onedetector 110. It is then possible to recognize, for example bycomparison with a corresponding command list, that the user 200 wouldlike to effect a specific input, for example would like to give themachine 202 a control command. As an alternative or an addition todirect diametrical information about the actual user 200, it is alsopossible, for example, to generate at least one item of geometricalinformation about at least one beacon device 204 attached to the user200, such as at least one item of geometrical information about agarment of the user 200 and/or a glove and/or an article moved by theuser 200, such as a stick, a bat, a club, a racket, a cane, a toy, suchas a toy gun. One or more beacon devices 204 may be used. The beacondevice 204 may be embodied as an active beacon device and/or as apassive beacon device. Thus, the beacon device 204 may comprise one ormore illumination sources 192 and/or may comprise one or more reflectiveelements for reflecting one or more primary light beams 206, asindicated in FIG. 6.

The machine 202 can furthermore comprise one or a plurality of furtherhuman-machine interfaces, which need not necessarily be embodiedaccording to the invention, for example, as indicated in FIG. 6, atleast one display 208 and/or at least one keyboard 210. Additionally oralternatively, other types of human-machine interfaces may be provided.The machine 202 can, in principle, be any desired type of machine orcombination of machines, such as a personal computer.

The at least one evaluation device 142 and/or parts thereof may furtherfunction as a track controller 201 of the tracking system 199.Additionally or alternatively, one or more additional track controllers201 may be provided, such as one or more additional data evaluationdevices. The track controller 201 may be or may comprise one or moredata memories, such as one or more volatile and/or non-volatilememories. In this at least one data memory, a plurality of subsequentpositions and/or orientation of one or more objects of parts of anobject may be stored, in order to allow for storing a past trajectory.Additionally or alternatively, a future trajectory of the object and/orparts thereof may be predicted, such as by calculation, extrapolation orany other suitable algorithm. As an example, a past trajectory of anobject or a part thereof may be extrapolated to future values, in orderto predict at least one of a future position, a future orientation and afuture trajectory of the object or a part thereof.

In the context of an entertainment device 198, said machine 202 can bedesigned for example to carry out at least one entertainment function,for example at least one game, in particular with at least one graphicaldisplay on the display 208 and, optionally, a corresponding audiooutput. The user 200 can input at least one item of information, forexample via the human-machine interface 196 and/or one or more otherinterfaces, wherein the entertainment device 198 is designed to alterthe entertainment function in accordance with the information. By way ofexample, specific movements or one or more virtual articles, for exampleof virtual persons in a game and/or movements of virtual vehicles in agame, may be controlled by means of corresponding movements of the user200 and/or one or more body parts of the user 200, which, in turn, maybe recognized by the detector 110. Other types of control of at leastone entertainment function by the user 200, by means of the at least onedetector 110, are also possible.

Exemplary Embodiments of sDSCs for a 3-D Position Sensor:

The practical implementation of the FiP-effect of the sDSCs in the formof a 3-D sensor, and achieving good spatial resolution both in the x,y-and in the z-direction, typically may require the cells to have anactive area of approximately 1 cm×1 cm and meet certain requirements.Therefore, in the following, preferred requirements for the individualcells of the at least one transversal optical sensor and/or the at leastone longitudinal optical sensor are given. It shall be noted, however,that other embodiments are feasible.

Optical Properties of the at Least One Transversal Optical Sensor and/orthe at Least One Longitudinal Optical Sensor:

As can be seen in FIGS. 5A to 5C, one particular current signal canimply two different spatial points (in front and behind the focus). Inorder to obtain unambiguous depth information on the z-axis, therefore,preferably at least two cells need to be arranged one behind the other.Unambiguous information is then derived from the ratio between thecurrent signals of the two cells. For the sake of precise z-information,this sensor should have six cells stacked behind each other. Thisrequires the cells to be transparent, i.e. the back electrode thatnormally consists of vapor-deposited silver across its entire area needsto be replaced by a transparent conducting material.

To ensure that sufficient illumination reaches the last cell and itsupplies a useful current signal, the front five cells may have only lowabsorption at the excitation wavelength. The wavelength used forexcitation should be around 700 nm.

Cross-Resistance of the Transversal Optical Sensors:

To achieve precise x,y resolution, there has to be a sufficientpotential difference between each pair of opposite sides in this squarecell. FIG. 2A shows such a transparent cell with which the x,yresolution is possible.

Even without a silver back electrode, sufficiently good electrontransport from the p-type conductor into the oxidized dye has to beensured across the entire surface area of the cells so that the dye isregenerated rapidly by a supply of electrons. Since the p-type conductoritself has very low conductance (10⁻⁵ S/cm), a conducting layer needs tobe coated onto the p-type conductor. Thanks to this additional layer, adefined cross-resistance R is to be achieved between the opposite sidesof this square cell.

Transparency of the Transversal Optical Sensors:

Due to their good conductance, normal solar cells have back electrodes(second electrodes) made of silver. The cells being developed here,however, have to be transparent, which is why the 1 cm² cell areatypically requires a transparent back electrode. The material preferablyused for this purpose is the conducting polymerpoly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) inaqueous dispersion. The conjugated polymer PEDOT:PSS is highlytransparent; it absorbs in the blue-green region (450-550 nm) only atconsiderable layer thicknesses, and only minimally in the red spectralrange.

The additional PEDOT layer makes possible good electron transport in thep-type conductor. To improve the conductance of this layer and providecontacts, four silver electrodes 1 cm in length are vapor-depositedaround the square cell. The arrangement of the silver electrodes isshown in FIG. 3.3a . FIG. 3.3b shows a cell with a transparent PEDOTback electrode.

Extinction of the Cells of the at Least One Transversal Optical Sensorand/or the at Least One Longitudinal Optical Sensor:

It is not only the back electrode that has to be transparent, but theentire cell. To ensure that a sufficient amount of light still reachesthe last cell in the stack, the extinction of the front five cellsshould be as low as possible. This is determined first and foremost bythe dye's absorption. The extinction of a solar cell, i.e. theabsorption of light by the dye, has a decisive effect on the cell'soutput current. Typically, the wavelength-dependent absorption spectrumhas a maximum—the wavelength of maximum absorption is characteristic ofthe particular dye used. The more dye has been adsorbed in the np TiO2layer, the higher the cell's absorption. The more dye molecules areadsorbed, the more electrons can reach the cb of the TiO2 throughoptical excitation and the higher the current. A cell with higherextinction will, therefore, have a higher output current than one withlow extinction.

The objective here is to obtain the maximum total current from thecomplete cell arrangement—which in the ideal case is divided equallyamong all the cells. Since the intensity of the light is attenuated byabsorption in the cells, the ones located further back in the stackreceive less and less light. In order, nonetheless, to obtain similaroutput currents from all six cells, it would make sense for the frontcells to have lower extinction than the ones at the back. As a result,they will stop less of the light reaching the following cells, which inturn will absorb a larger proportion of the already weakened light.Through optimal adjustment of the extinctions at the positions of thecells in the stack, in this way theoretically one could obtain the samecurrent from all the cells.

The extinction of a solar cell can be adjusted by staining with a dyeand by controlling the thickness of the np TiO2 layer.

Optimizing the Extinction and the Output Current of the Cells of theLongitudinal Optical Sensor Stack:

The last cell in the stack preferably should absorb almost all theincident light. For this reason, this cell should have maximumextinction. Starting with the current obtained under maximum extinctionat the last cell, the extinctions of the front cells need to be soadjusted that all cells together supply a maximum total current, onethat is distributed as uniformly as possible across all the cells.

Optimizing the stack's output currents is carried out as follows:

-   -   The choice of dye    -   Maximum extinction/maximum output current of the last cell    -   Dye concentration for staining the last cell    -   Staining time of the last cell    -   Optimum thickness of the last cell's np TiO₂ layer    -   Maximum output current of the complete stack    -   Optimum thickness of the np TiO₂ layers of the front five cells

The extinction was measured with a Zeiss spectrometer MCS 501 UV-NIRusing Zeiss lamp MCS 500. The results were evaluated with an Aspect Plussoftware program.

Choice of Dye:

To begin with, a dye should to be found that absorbs sufficiently at theexcitation wavelength of approximately 700 nm. The ideal dye for solarcells typically has a broad absorption spectrum and should absorbcompletely the incident light below a wavelength of ca. 920 nm. Inactual fact, most dyes have an absorption maximum in the wavelengthrange between 450-600 nm; above 650 nm they usually absorb weakly or notat all.

The dye with which the first experiments were performed was ID504, ase.g. disclosed in WO 2012/110924 A1. This dye, however, turned out toexhibit only a low absorption in the range of 700 nm. Therefore, for thestack, the dye D-5 (also referred to as ID 1338) was used:

Preparation and properties of the Dye D-5 are disclosed in WO2013/144177 A1.

Additionally or alternatively, however, other dyes may be used. Thestaining time, i.e. the duration of staining of the TiO₂-layer with therespective dye, turned out to have an influence on the absorptionproperties. The tests were performed with cells having np TiO₂ layershaving a thickness of 1.3 microns. The absorption maximum of D-5 isaround 550-560 nm which exhibits an extinction ε≈59000 at this maximum.

In this experimental series, the dye concentration was 0.3 mM and thestaining time was increased so as to be 10 to 30 minutes. A pronouncedincrease in extinction at longer staining times was observed, so finallystaining times of 30 min. were used for D-5.

Still, even after optimizing the staining time, the absorption wasdetermined to be rather very low. Therefore, generally, the absorptionwill have to be maximized by increasing the dye concentration, thestaining time and the thickness of the np TiO₂ layer.

Dye Concentration and Staining Time of the Last Cell in the LongitudinalOptical Sensor Stack:

Several experiments regarding the staining time and the dyeconcentration were performed. The standard concentration of the dyesolution for a layer thickness of the TiO₂-layers of 1-2 microns was 0.5mM. At these concentrations, the dye should already be present inexcess. Here the dye concentration was increased to 0.7 mM. In order toprevent inhomogeneities across the cell's area, the dye solution wascleaned by removing undissolved dye particles and other impurities,using a 0.2 micron syringe filter, before placing the cells in it.

If the dye is present in excess, then after a 1 hour staining time a dyemonolayer dye should have been adsorbed to the surface of the np TiO₂layer, which leads to maximum absorption by the dye being used. Themaximum staining time tested here was 75 minutes, which was finally usedfor the cells.

Finally, cells having a layer thickness of the TiO₂-layer of 1.3microns, a dye concentration of 0.7 mM and a staining time of 75 min wasused. The cell's extinction turned out to be 0.4 at 700 nm.

The np TiO₂ Layer Thickness of the Last Cell of the Longitudinal OpticalSensor Stack:

Ultimately, the thickness of the nanoporous (np) layer and thus the TiO₂surface area available for dye adsorption may be an important factorinfluencing the absorption behavior and therefore the cells' outputcurrent. So far, maximizing the extinction was done in cells with npTiO₂ layers whose thickness was 1.3 microns. Since more dye can beadsorbed in thicker np TiO₂ layers, the thickness of the TiO₂ layer wasincreased in steps to 3 microns, and the thickness at which the greatestoutput current occurred was determined.

The nanoporous TiO₂ layers were applied by spin coating. Spin coating issuitable for applying low-volatility substances dissolved in ahigh-volatility solvent (here: terpineol). As a starting product, TiO₂paste made by Dyesol (DSL 18 NR-T) was used. This paste was mixed withterpineol, which decreases the viscosity of the paste. Depending on thecomposition ratio of the paste:terpineol mixture, and at a constant spinvelocity of 4500 l/min, np TiO₂ layers of varying thicknesses areobtained. The higher the terpineol proportion, the lower the viscosityof the diluted paste and the thinner the cells will be.

The diluted TiO₂ paste was also cleaned using a 1.2 micron syringefilter to remove larger particles, before applying the paste the nextday by spin coating on the cells coated with blocking layer.

When varying the np TiO₂ layer thickness, it should be noted that theconcentration of the p-type conductor dissolved in chlorobenzene needsto be adjusted. Thicker np layers have a larger cavity volume that hasto be filled with p-type conductor. For this reason, in the case ofthicker np layers the amount of supernatant p-type conductor solution ontop of the np layer is smaller. To ensure that the solid p-typeconductor layer remaining on the np TiO₂ layer after spin coating has aconstant thickness (the solvent evaporates during spin coating), higherp-type conductor concentrations are needed for thick np TiO₂ layers thanfor thin ones. The optimal p-type conductor concentrations are not knownfor all the TiO₂ layer thicknesses tested here. For this reason, thep-type conductor concentration is varied for the unknown layerthicknesses and the output currents compared for equal layer thicknessesbut different p-type conductor concentrations.

The chosen starting value for the layer thickness variation was a 1.3microns for the np TiO₂ layer. 1.3 microns corresponds to a TiO₂paste:terpineol mass composition of 5 g:5 g. A test series with cellswhose np TiO₂ layers are thicker than 1.3 microns will show at whichlayer thickness the largest output current is obtained from the lastcell in the stack.

These cells were stained with the aforementioned optimized parametersfor maximum extinction (D-5; c=0.7 mM; staining time: 75 minutes). Theextinction of these cells was found to be approximately 0.6 at 700 nm.

Since the last cell generally does not have to be transparent, the backelectrode was vapor-deposited on the whole 1 cm² area directly onto thep-type conductor—without PEDOT.

The measurement results indicated that, as expected, the output currentsof the cells with a whole-area back electrode (second electrode) aremuch higher. Highest output currents were obtained with a TiO₂:terpineolmass ratio of 5:3. This corresponds to a TiO₂ layer thickness of 2-3microns.

Therefore, in subsequent experiments, a TiO₂ paste:terpineol compositionof 5:3 was used for the last cell in the stack. The back electrode wasvapor-deposited across the entire 1 cm² cell area.

The np TiO₂ Layer Thickness of the Front Cells of the LongitudinalOptical Sensor Stack:

Starting from the maximum output current obtained with the last cell,the thicknesses of the front cells' np TiO₂ layers are to be so adjustedthat every cell in the stack generates the maximum possible outputcurrent. This requires low extinction values in the front cells.

During the experiments, it turned out that, in practical terms, it israther difficult to obtain reproducible low extinctions through the dyeconcentration and staining time parameters. In order to make cells withlow, reproducible extinction, therefore, it makes sense to fabricatecells with thin np TiO₂ layers and to keep them in the dye solution forthe time needed to ensure dye saturation of the np TiO₂ surface. Theterpineol proportion in the TiO₂ layers was increased in a stepwisefashion. All the cells were stained under the same conditions. Sincetheir extinction is intended to be decreased significantly, the dyeconcentration here was 0.5 mM, and the staining time was 60 minutes.

Surprisingly, in this series, the cell's output voltages turned out tobegin with an increase in output current with decreasing lip TiO₂ layerthickness. The optimum out of the tested TiO₂ paste dilutions turned outto be 5:6. At higher dilutions and therefore thinner np TiO₂ layers, theoutput current tends to decrease. The reason for the exception to thistrend at a dilution of 5:9 is likely to be optimal adjustment of thep-type conductor concentration of 100 mg/ml for this layer thickness.

If, however, one considers the decrease in extinction relative to thatof the output current, it makes sense to accept the lower output currentin order to ensure that the following cells receive very much more lightthan would be the case with 5:6 dilution. Photographs of cells withTiO2:terpineol mixtures of 5:4.1, 5:6 and 5:10 were taken, whichillustrated this effect. Effects of inhomogeneity were observed. Inorder to achieve a homogeneous layer within a 1 cm² cell, the TiO₂ areawas increased for later cells such that the region in which the TiO₂banks up during spin coating lies outside the silver electrodes and thusoutside the cell.

The construction of the cell stack with regard to the TiO₂ layer'sthickness in the cells and their positioning in the stack, was carriedout by testing various arrangements of cells with np TiO₂ layers ofvarious thicknesses.

Preparation and the Properties of a Dye Sensitized Solar Cell (DSC)Prepared with the Dye D-5

FTO (tin oxide doped with fluorine) glass substrates (<12 ohms/sq,A11DU80, supplied by AGC Fabritech Co., Ltd.) were used as the basematerial, which were successively treated with glass cleaner, SemicoClean (Furuuchi Chemical Corporation), fully deionized water andacetone, in each case for 5 min in an ultrasonic bath, then baked for 10minutes in isopropanol and dried in a nitrogen flow.

A spray pyrolysis method was used to produce the solid TiO₂ bufferlayer. Titanium oxide paste (PST-18NR, supplied by Catalysts & ChemicalsInd. Co., Ltd.) was applied onto the FTO glass substrate by screenprinting method. After being dried for 5 minutes at 120° C., a workingelectrode layer having a thickness of 1.6 μm was obtained by applyingheat treatment in air at 450° C. for 30 minutes and 500° C. for 30minutes. Obtained working electrode is then treated with TiCl₄, asdescribed by M. Gräzel et al., for example, in Grätzel M. et al., Adv.Mater. 2006, 18, 1202. After sintering the sample was cooled to 60 to80° C. The sample was then treated with an additive as disclosed in WO2012/001628 A1. 5 mM of the additive in ethanol was prepared and theintermediate was immersed for 17 hours, washed in a bath of pureethanol, briefly dried in a nitrogen stream and subsequently immersed ina 0.5 mM solution of dye D-5 in a mixture solvent ofacetonitrile+t-butyl alcohol (1:1) for 2 hours so as to adsorb the dye.After removal from the solution, the specimen was subsequently washed inacetonitrile and dried in a nitrogen flow.

A p-type semiconductor solution was spin-coated on next. To this end a0.165M2,2′,7,7′-tetrakis(N,N-di-p-methoxyphenyl-amine)-9,9′-spirobifluorene(spiro-MeOTAD) and 20 mM LiN(SO₂CF₃)₂ (Wako Pure Chemical Industries,Ltd.) solution in chlorobenzene was employed. 20 μll/cm² of thissolution was applied onto the specimen and allowed to act for 60 s. Thesupernatant solution was then spun off for 30 s at 2000 revolutions perminute. The substrate was stored overnight under ambient conditions.Thus, the HTM was oxidized and for this reason the conductivityincreased.

As the metal back electrode, Ag was evaporated by thermal metalevaporation in a vacuum at a rate of 0.5 nm/s in a pressure of 1×10⁻⁵mbar, so that an approximately 100 nm thick Ag layer was obtained.

In order to determine the photo-electric power conversion efficiency ηof the above photoelectric conversion device, the respectivecurrent/voltage characteristic such as short-circuit current densityJ_(sc), open-circuit voltage V_(oc) and fill factor FF was obtained witha Source Meter Model 2400 (Keithley Instruments Inc.) under theillumination of an artificial sunlight (AM 1.5, 100 mW/cm² intensity)generated by a solar simulator (Peccell Technologies, Inc). As a result,the DSC prepared with the Dye D-5 exhibited the following parameters:

J_(sc) V_(oc) FF η [mA/cm²] [mV] [%] [%] 10.5 721 59 4.5

Results of the Optimized Output Currents for the Longitudinal OpticalSensor Stack:

The best result in terms of the cell stack's output currents wereobtained when all five transparent cells of the longitudinal opticalsensors step have an np TiO₂ layer thickness of 0.45 micrometers (i.e. aTiO₂ paste dilution of 5:10). These cells with a 0.45 micrometers npTiO₂ layer were stained for 60 minutes in a 0.5 mM dye solution. Onlythe last cell had a np TiO₂ layer just under 3 micrometers and wasstained for 75 minutes (0.7 mM). Since the last cell does not have to betransparent, the back electrode (second electrode) of the last cell wasa vapor-deposited silver layer across the whole 1 cm² area so as to beable to pick up the maximum possible current. The following photocurrents were observed with this stack, in order from the first cell tothe last cell of the stack:

Current [μA]: 37 9.7 7.6 4.0 1.6 1.9

The first five cells were made identically. The last cell had a thickernp TiO₂ layer and a silver back electrode vapor-deposited across thewhole cell area. One can see that the current of the second cell hasalready dropped to ¼ of the first cell's. Even in these five highlytransparent cells, the last cell's current is only a fraction of thecurrent in the first cell. The cells were excited with a red laser (690nm, 1 mW) directed at the centre of the cell area.

The current obtained with cells with a TiO₂:terpineol dilution of 5:9,5:8 or 5:7 (i.e. thicker cells) was at most 10 microamps larger than thecurrent of a cell with 5:10 dilution of the TiO₂ paste. These cells,however, exhibited a significantly higher extinction, as a result ofwhich the output current of the following cells decreases considerably.

The cells with a TiO2 dilution of 5:6, in which—compared with the TiO₂dilutions of 5:9; 5:8 and 5:7—a significantly higher current wasobtained, nevertheless absorbed so much light that no more light reachesthe last cell of the stack. Even when placing just one of these cells inposition 5 with four preceding 450 nm thin cells, the output current ofthe last cell decreased considerably, such that the last cell suppliespractically no more current.

It needs mentioning that each of these cells in the test stack wassealed with an additional glass plate for protection against ambienteffects. This, however, created many additional interfaces at which thelight beam of the 690 nm laser (1 mW) can be reflected and scattered, asa result of which the extinction of such a sealed cell is higher. In thelater device the cell stack was kept in nitrogen, which is why thesealing becomes unnecessary and the cells lie directly on top of eachother. This decreased the stack's extinction, since the losses resultingfrom scattering at the cover glasses no longer occur.

Cross-Resistance of the Transversal Optical Sensors:

A defined cross-resistance between the opposite sides of the square cellmakes precise x,y resolution possible. The principle of x,y resolutionis illustrated in FIGS. 3A to 3D. The cross-resistance across the areaof the cell is determined by the PEDOT layer present between the p-typeconductor and the silver electrodes bordering the cell. In the undopedstate, PEDOT is a semiconductor. Conductivity is made possible by thesystem of conjugated double bonds extending across the entire moleculein combination with the doping with a negatively charged counter-ion.The PEDOTs used which were used for the present experiments were alldoped with the negatively charged polymer polystyrene sulfonate (PSS).PEDOT:PSS is available in a wide range of embodiments as regardsconductance, solid content, ionisation potential (IP), viscosity and pH.

Factors Affecting the Cross-Resistance:

The PEDOT was also applied to the cells by spin coating. During thespinning process, the solvents ethanol and isopropanol evaporate whereasthe low-volatility PEDOT remains on the substrate in the form of a film.The resistance of this layer depends on the conductance of the PEDOTbeing used and on the thickness of the layer:

$R = {\rho \cdot \frac{l}{A}}$

where ρ is the resistivity, l the distance across which the resistanceis measured and A the cross-sectional area through which the chargecarriers flow (A is a function of the PEDOT layer's thickness).

According to known principles of spin-coating, the layer thickness d tobe expected when coating a non-Newtonian fluid can be determined by:

$d = {\sqrt[3]{\frac{3 \cdot x_{s}^{3} \cdot \upsilon_{k} \cdot e}{2 \cdot \left( {1 - x_{s}} \right) \cdot \omega^{2}}} \sim \sqrt[3]{\frac{x_{s}^{3} \cdot \upsilon_{k}}{\left( {1 - x_{s}} \right) \cdot \omega^{3/2}}}}$

where x_(s) is the PEDOT percentage in the mixed diluted solution, υ_(k)is the kinematic viscosity, e the evaporation rate of the solvent(s) andω the angular velocity during spin coating. The evaporation rate isproportional to ω^(1/2).

The thickness of the PEDOT layer can, therefore, be affected by variousparameters: the angular velocity, the viscosity of the PEDOT solutionand the percentage of PEDOT in the solution. The angular velocity can bevaried directly. The viscosity and the percentage of PEDOT in thesolution can only be affected indirectly, i.e. via the ratio at whichthe PEDOT is mixed with ethanol and isopropanol.

The following parameters, therefore, can be used in order to adjust thecross-resistance, and they will be optimized in due course:

-   -   The choice of PEDOT    -   The layer thickness of the PEDOT    -   The PEDOT/solvent ratio    -   The spin speed during the PEDOT's spin coating    -   The number of PEDOT layers    -   The time interval Δt between applying and spin coating the PEDOT

Optimizing the Cross-Resistance:

The PEDOT solution was mixed with ethanol and isopropanol in a standardvolumetric ratio of 1:1:1, and larger particles removed with a 0.45micrometer syringe filter. The entire cell was covered with this dilutedPEDOT solution (approximately 900 microliters were needed per substrate)and spin coated at a speed of 2000 l/s. At this speed, 30 s turned outto suffice to remove and evaporate the solvents ethanol and isopropanol.

The aforementioned parameters were then varied systematically, with theobjective of obtaining a cross-resistance of ca. 2 kΩ between theopposite electrodes of the square cell.

Choice of PEDOT:

The greatest impact on the PEDOT layer's cross-resistance turned out tocome from the conductance of the PEDOT solution used. In order to obtaina first impression of the order of magnitude of the resistances of sucha PEDOT layer across 1 cm, three PEDOT products with very differentconductances were tested:

-   -   Clevios™ PVP Al 4083 from Heraeus    -   Clevios™ PH 1000 from Heraeus    -   Orgacon™ N-1005 from Sigma Aldrich

The relevant parameters of dynamic viscosity η_(d), ionisation potentialIP and resistivity □ are summarised in Table 1. The IP is an importantselection criterion for the PEDOT. The PEDOT's IP generally should beless than 5 eV in order to ensure good functionality of the cell.

TABLE 1 Relevant parameters for various PEDOTs. Al 4083 PH 1000 N-1005η_(d) [mPas] 5-12 15-50 7-12 IP [eV] 5.2 4.8 N/A ρ [Ωcm] 500-5000 0.001275-120

For these first tests, 1.3 micrometer np TiO₂ layers were coated ontoFTO-free glass substrates. In this first experimental series, only 300microliters of each of the three prepared PEDOT solutions were coateddirectly on np TiO₂ layers—without the staining or p-type conductorcoating steps. For each PEDOT solution, three substrates with 1, 2 and 3PEDOT layers were made. The resistance was measured by applying a layerof conducting silver paint at 1 cm spacing at several positions on eachsubstrate.

It is to be expected that the resistance of the substrate fabricated inthis way, will be smaller than the resistance resulting from applyingthe PEDOT on a smooth p-type conductor layer.

As expected, the experiments showed a decrease in cross-resistance withan increasing number of layers and therefore increasing total thicknessof the PEDOT. The cross-resistance of Al 4083 is in the MQ range evenwith three layers, therefore it was not used in further tests. PH 1000with two applied layers was in the required range. The cross-resistanceof N 1005 is also in the kΩ range, and could be decreased throughoptimization. Since, however, it can be assumed that when applying thePEDOT on the smooth p-type conductor's surface the resistance will behigher than when applying it directly on the np TiO₂ layer as in thistest series, further optimizations will focus on PH 1000.

Applying Several PEDOT Layers:

A further option for increasing the total thickness of the PEDOT layeris to apply several PEDOT layers consecutively. Tests were conductedwith 1 and 2 applied PEDOT layers. PH 1000 was mixed with ethanol andisopropanol at a 1:1:1 volumetric ratio. The cells were coveredcompletely with 900 microliters of the PEDOT solution and the excesssolution was removed by spin coating at an RPM of 2000 l/min.

Unlike the first experimental series, these tests were conducted on‘complete’ cells, i.e. stained cells coated with p-type conductor. Thecross-resistance was measured between two circular vapour-depositedelectrodes ca. 2 mm apart, in order to exclude errors resulting fromdifferent contact resistances of PEDOT/conducting silver paint andPEDOT/vapour-deposited silver. In addition, cell efficiency measurementscan be automated with this electrode arrangement. These test cells arevery much simpler and quicker to make than the square transparent ones,but they suffice for the requirements of these tests (for one thing, thecross-resistance of the PEDOT layer(s) is to be measured here across adefined section; for another, the cells are to be tested forfunctionality, i.e. whether there is good contact between the p-typeconductor and the PEDOT and the IP of the PEDOT matches the energy levelof the p-type conductor). The cross-resistance across 1 cm is calculatedusing equation 3.1—assuming equal layer thickness and therefore equalarea A—through multiplication by the factor 5 (the resistivity of thesolution is constant).

Table 2 shows the results of the resistance measurement between the twocircular vapor-deposited back electrodes and the calculatedcross-resistances across 1 cm for 1 and 2 PEDOT layers. The last columnshows the efficiency of the cells. The smallest and largest measurementsobtained in several tests are shown in each case.

TABLE 2 Results of resistance measurements for one and two PEDOT layers.Mixture Number of RPM R_(l=2 mm) R_(l=1 cm) η ratio layers [1/min] [kΩ][kΩ] [%] 1:1:1 1 2000  6-19 30-90  1.5-2.5 2 0.18-0.27 0.9-1.35 0.4-0.6

The difference in cross-resistances between one and two applied PEDOTlayers can be seen clearly. For one PEDOT layer it is significantlyhigher than the required 2 kΩ, for two layers it is very much lower. Itis also evident, however, that the efficiency of the cells with twoapplied PEDOT layers is very much smaller, which means that the contactbetween the two PEDOT layers is poor. It should be noted that theefficiency being measured here refers to the circular cell, i.e. to acell with a back electrode vapor-deposited across the whole surface. Theefficiency of the square transparent cells, therefore, will be muchlower still, which is why the idea of several PEDOT layers appliedconsecutively has to be discarded. Further experiments will attempt tominimize the cross-resistance of one PEDOT layer only.

It is noticeable that the resistance with two applied PEDOT layers issmaller than in the first experimental series, in which the PEDOT wasapplied directly onto the np TiO₂ layer. Presumably, the reason for thisdiscrepancy is that in the first experiments the layers were appliedimmediately after each other, even though the first PEDOT layer had notyet dried out completely. In this experiment, the cell was placed on thehotplate at 60° C. between applying the two layers.

As expected, in this experimental series—in which the PEDOT was appliedonto the p-type conductor—the cross-resistance with only one appliedPEDOT layer was higher than when the PEDOT was applied onto the roughsurface of the np TiO₂.

Increasing the PEDOT Concentration of the Solution:

As mentioned above, usually, the PEDOT solution is mixed with ethanoland isopropanol at a volume ratio of 1:1:1 in order to decrease theviscosity of the solution and obtain homogeneous layers through spincoating. When the PEDOT proportion in the mixture is increased, thesolution's viscosity rises. Due to the higher viscosity, an increase inthe thickness of the PEDOT layer remaining on the cell after spincoating is expected (for comparison: η_(d, ethanol, 20° C.)=1.19 mPas;η_(d, isopropanol, 20° C.)=2.43 mPas; η_(d,PEDOT)=5-50 mPas).

In order to investigate the practical effect of the PEDOT solution'sviscosity and the amount of substance it contains on layer thickness andtherefore on the cross-resistance, the PEDOT proportion was increased alittle to begin with, and then significantly. The volumetric mixtureratios ethanol:isopropanol:PEDOT tested here were as follows:

-   -   1:1:1    -   1:1:2    -   1:1:5    -   1:1:10    -   2:2:1

Since a preliminary experiment showed that small variations in PEDOTconcentration do not result in significant differences as far as theresistance is concerned, the PEDOT proportion in the mixed solutions wasincreased considerably. This was the first experimental series in whichthe construction of the cells and the arrangement of the electrodescorresponded to those of the actual square cells.

The thickness of the cells' np TiO₂ layer was 1.3 micrometers. Eachtime, a PEDOT layer with a different proportion of PH 1000 was applied.The PEDOT solution was spun for 90 seconds at 2000 or 1500 l/min. Thenthe PEDOT layer was dried for ca. 1 minute with the hot air blower,before the silver electrodes (ca. 2 micrometers thick) werevapor-deposited.

TABLE 3 Cross-resistances for various mixture ratios and spin speeds ofPEDOT layers. Mixture Number RPM R ratio of layers [1/min] [kΩ] 1:1:1 12000 22-39 1:1:5 31-51 1:1:10 29-36 1:1:1 1 1500 21-27 1:1:5 21-321:1:10 26-37

As can be seen in Table 3, the cross-resistance does not decrease asexpected with the increasing PEDOT proportion in the applied solution.Both at an angular velocity of 2000 and of 1500 l/min, thecross-resistance increases with the increasing PEDOT concentration inthe solution. However, it is also noticeable that the resistance tendsto decrease with decreasing RPM for the same PEDOT proportion, but isstill 10-15 orders of magnitude too high.

Adjusting the Time Interval Between Application and Spin Coating of thePEDOT (Δt) and Minimizing the RPM During Spin Coating:

The classic method for increasing layer thickness during spin coating isto decrease the angular velocity. In this way, layer thickness caneasily be increased and the cross-resistance decreased. In theexperimental series thus far, this was the only variation that led to asensible result. The angular velocity during spin coating cannot,however, be decreased to an arbitrary value, since at excessively lowRPM the solvent no longer evaporates sufficiently quickly which resultsin inhomogeneous PEDOT layers.

Tests have shown, however, that the time interval between applying thePEDOT solution to the substrate and starting the spin coating (and thus,removing excess solution from the substrate) has a significant effect onthe cross-resistance. Therefore, subsequently, the cross-resistance wasminimized through iterative optimization of the two parameters Δt andangular velocity during spin coating.

Therefore, over several tests series, the time interval Δt betweenapplying the PEDOT solution to the cell and the start of spin coatingwas increased in steps from 30 seconds to 2 minutes, later incombination with RPM optimization from 1 to 3 minutes and finally from3.5 to 5 minutes. This involves decreasing the RPM from 2000 l/min to350 l/min. When decreasing the RPM to under 1000 l/min, 30 secondsturned out to no longer suffice for complete evaporation of the solvent.This time was, therefore, extended to 2 minutes in every case.Thereafter, the cells were dried with the hot air blower forapproximately 1 minute before the electrodes were vapor-deposited.

RPM [1/min] 2000 1000 750 600 500 450 400 350

The results of the optimization are summarized in Tables 4 to 7.

In the first experimental series of the final optimization (Table 4), inwhich to begin with the time interval Δt between applying the PEDOTsolution on the cell and spinning at constant angular velocity wasincreased, at an RPM of 1000 l/min there seems to be an optimum at Δt=60s (4.1-4.2 kΩ). For this time interval and a further decrease in RPM, anew minimum was obtained for 600 l/min (2.6-2.7 kΩ).

TABLE 4 Optimization of the cross-resistance by optimizing the timeinterval Δt and the angular velocity during PEDOT solution spincoating - experimental series 1. Mixture Number of RPM Δt R ratio layers[1/min] [s] [kΩ] 1:1:1 1 1000 30 8.5-8.7 60 4.1-4.2 90 4.7-4.8 1205.4-5.8 750 60 9.0-9.2 600 60 2.6-2.7 500 60 3.7-4.0

TABLE 5 Optimization of the cross-resistance by optimizing the timeinterval Δt and the angular velocity during PEDOT solution spincoating - experimental series 2. Mixture Number of RPM Δt R ratio layers[1/min] [s] [kΩ] 1:1:1 1 600 60 15.8-17.6 90 11.0-11.6 120 11.2-11.4 50060 6.0-6.8 90 5.0 120 6.4-6.8 180 3.1-4.1

TABLE 6 Optimization of the cross-resistance by optimizing the timeinterval Δt and the angular velocity during PEDOT solution spin coatingexperimental series 3. Mixture Number of RPM Δt R ratio layers [1/min][s] [kΩ] 1:1:1 1 500 180 0.4 450 180 0.6 400 180 1.1-1.3 350 180 2.0-2.7350 210 1.8-2.5 350 240 1.6 350 270 1.5-1.8 350 300 1.8-1.9

TABLE 7 Optimization of the cross-resistance by optimizing the timeinterval Δt and the angular velocity during PEDOT solution spincoating - experimental series 4. Mixture Number of RPM Δt R ratio layers[1/min] [s] [kΩ] 1:1:1 1 500 180 1.3-2.4 450 180 1.0-2.0

Since, however, the results do not differ substantially between 600 and500 l/min, in the next experimental series the time interval Δt wasincreased further stepwise for both RPM values. The results are shown inTable 5.

A further decrease in RPM and increase in Δt did not exhibit furtherimprovement. In fact, the cross-resistance even increased again at anRPM <450 l/min (see Table 6).

Since the values for 500 and 450 l/min lie very close together, a lastcomparative test was performed (see Table 7).

It was shown that the cross-resistance at an RPM of 450 l/min isslightly smaller than at 500 l/min. Since, however, no significant isachieved thereby and since PEDOT layers coated at an excessively low RPMare no longer homogeneous, 500 l/min was chosen as the optimal RPM. Thetime interval Δt is then 180 s.

Generally speaking, it is noticeable that the resistance values in thelast set of experimental series, where there was a time interval betweenapplying the PEDOT solution to the cell and starting the spinning, donot fluctuate as much within one series for constant parameters asbefore. In the last experimental series (Table 7), the twocross-resistances were measured on each of four cells (left-right andtop-bottom) and the results varied only by ca. 1 kΩ. The fact that insome cases the results from different series vary significantly for thesame experimental parameters, is likely to be due to the production ofthe PEDOT solution since the individual experimental series inthemselves provide coherent results.

The spin coater's open lid during the time interval Δt may be animportant interference factor in these experiments. In one experimentalseries, it was not closed immediately after applying the PEDOT solutionto the cell but only before spin coating. The cross-resistances measuredin this experimental series are very much higher and there is aconsiderable variation in their values between the substrates—but not onany one substrate. It could not be determined exactly why thecross-resistance is so strongly influenced by the time interval Δtbefore the PEDOT solution's spin coating. Perhaps some of the PEDOTsolution dries and adheres to the cell during this time, resulting in athicker PEDOT layer.

Results of the Optimized Parameters:

The minimum cross-resistance obtained in this way lies between 1 and 3kΩ. The parameters that bring about a minimum cross-resistance herewere:

-   -   PEDOT: Clevios□ PH 1000 from Heraeus    -   Number of layers: 1    -   PEDOT:ethanol:isopropanol ratio=1:1:1    -   Time interval between applying and spin coating the PEDOT:        Δt=180 s    -   RPM during PEDOT spin coating: n=500 l/min (t=120 s)

The Final Cells Used in the Experiments:

The cells used during the optimization process so far were made on thick2.5 mm TEC 8 glass carriers, with the FTO layer already applied duringthe fabrication process. They have a highly homogeneous FTO layer, ontowhich the application of homogeneous np TiO2 layers is possible. Thismakes possible the fabrication of cells that appear homogeneous to thehuman eye.

For the technical realization of the sensor stack, however, the cellswere made on thin 1 mm special glass carriers made of quartz glass,which were coated subsequently with FTO. Therein, loss carriers withbeveled edges were used. The beveled edges served as bases for cellscontacts. The silver contacts were vapor-deposited up to the edge of thebevels. This made it possible to contact the cells directly adjacent toeach other in the stack individually with pins.

The subsequently applied FTO layer on these special carriers exhibitedin part inhomogeneities arising from the fabrication process. Thefabrication of homogeneous cells on these carriers turned out to be verydifficult, as was shown by generating current diagrams of the finalcells. Even in the first cell of the stack which supplied a homogeneouscurrent signal across its entire area, four locations were identifiedthat supplied lower currents due to inhomogeneities. Current diagramswere obtained by exciting the cells with a laser at a wavelength 690 ofnm. The laser scanned the cells at 1 mm intervals. The cells werescanned in their final arrangement as a stack, i.e. the current diagramof the last cells was recorded with five ‘thin’ cells located in frontof the last cell.

At the excitation wavelength of 690 nm, the developed cells had anextinction of 0.13. At the maximum (at ca. 550 nm) the extinction ofthese cells was ca. 0.4. Despite this low absorption by the cells andthe fact that the back electrode consists of a poorly conducting—unlikesilver—transparent layer, the efficiency of such a cell is still ˜0.3%(AM 1.5*), that of the last cell ˜2%.

FIGS. 2A, 4B and 4C show the final cells on the 1 mm special glasscarriers. The first cell in the stack, which acts as the transversaloptical sensor, requires the special electrode arrangement forx,y-resolution. For cells 2-5, which form the longitudinal opticalsensor stack, only the total current is needed for z-resolution, whichis why the contacting silver electrodes are combined here into oneelectrode surrounding the cell. Otherwise, however, the first five cellswere made identically.

The last cell of the longitudinal optical sensor stack is intended toabsorb the remaining light preferably completely, which is why it waschosen to have a significantly higher extinction than the front cells.In addition, it has a back electrode covering its entire area in orderto supply maximum output current.

The cell shown in FIG. 2A, which forms the transversal optical sensor,in this experiment, was used only once for x,y resolution at position 1in the stack. The cells in FIG. 4B were used four times in the entirestack of the optical sensors, i.e. for positions 2-5 of the entirestack. The last cell, which is depicted in FIG. 4C, was used at position6 of the entire stack of optical sensors. Thus, generally, a stack ofoptical sensors was formed with the first optical sensor being thetransversal optical sensor (FIG. 2A), followed by four transparentlongitudinal optical sensors (FIG. 4B) and a last longitudinal opticalsensor having the set-top of FIG. 4C.

When illuminating one of these single transparent final cells with a redlaser (690 nm, 1 mW), this cell supplied a current of 30-40 microamps.The last longitudinal optical sensor provided a current of approximately70 μA. The cross-resistance between any two opposite electrodes in thefirst cell on these special glass carriers turned out to be 0.1 and 0.3kΩ.

Since the fabrication of transparent cells on the special glass carrierswas problematic due to the poor FTO coating, these cells had to befabricated in large numbers. The cells were screened, and only selectedcells were used for the final setup of the detector forming a prototype3-D sensor. For this screening procedure, specifically for thetransversal optical sensor, the cells were excited by a laser beam (690nm, 1 mW) at the center of the cell. If the cells are homogenous, thecurrents at all four contacts are equal (I1=I2=I3=I4). By comparing thecurrents, specific cells were selected for use in the prototype.

The x,y resolution achieved with the detector of the set-top turned outto be approximately 1 mm at a distance of 3 m. The z-resolution of thisdetective setup turned out to be approximately 1 cm.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

-   110 detector-   111 camera-   112 object-   114 optical sensors-   116 optical axis-   118 housing-   120 transfer device-   122 lens-   124 opening-   126 direction of view-   128 coordinate system-   130 transversal optical sensor-   132 longitudinal optical sensor-   134 longitudinal optical sensor stack-   136 sensor region-   138 light beam-   140 transversal signal lead-   142 evaluation device-   144 last longitudinal optical sensor-   146 longitudinal signal leads-   148 transversal evaluation unit-   150 longitudinal evaluation unit-   152 position information-   154 data processing device-   156 transformation unit-   157 imaging device-   158 substrate-   159 imaging device signal lead-   160 first electrode-   161 optically sensitive element-   162 blocking layer-   163 color wheel-   164 n-semiconducting metal oxide-   166 dye-   168 p-semiconducting organic material-   170 second electrode-   172 encapsulation-   174 electrode contact-   176 partial electrode-   178 partial electrode, x-   180 partial electrode, y-   182 contact leads-   184 light spot-   186 image-   188 electrically conductive polymer-   190 top contact-   192 illumination source-   194 focal point-   196 human-machine interface-   198 entertainment device-   199 tracking system-   200 user-   201 track controller-   202 machine-   204 beacon device-   206 primary light beam-   208 display-   210 keyboard

The invention claimed is:
 1. A detector, comprising: a transversaloptical sensor, the transversal optical sensor being adapted todetermine a transversal position of at least one light beam travelingfrom an object to the detector, the transversal position being aposition in at least one dimension perpendicular to an optical axis ofthe detector, the transversal optical sensor being adapted to affect atleast one transversal sensor signal; and a longitudinal optical sensor,wherein the longitudinal optical sensor has at least one sensor region,wherein the longitudinal optical sensor is designed to affect at leastone longitudinal sensor signal in a manner dependent on an illuminationof the sensor region by the light beam, wherein the longitudinal sensorsignal, given the same total power of the illumination, is dependent ona beam cross-section of the light beam in the sensor region.
 2. Thedetector according to claim 1, wherein the transversal optical sensor isa photo detector having at least one first electrode, at least onesecond electrode and at least one photovoltaic material, wherein thephotovoltaic material is located in between the first electrode and thesecond electrode, wherein the photovoltaic material is adapted to affectelectric charges in response to an illumination of the photovoltaicmaterial with light, wherein the second electrode is a split electrodehaving at least two partial electrodes, wherein the transversal opticalsensor has a sensor region, wherein the at least one transversal sensorsignal indicates a position of the light beam in the sensor region. 3.The detector according to claim 2, wherein electrical currents throughthe partial electrodes are dependent on a position of the light beam inthe sensor region, wherein the transversal optical sensor is adapted toaffect the transversal sensor signal in accordance with the electricalcurrents through the partial electrodes.
 4. The detector according toclaim 3, wherein the detector is adapted to derive the information onthe transversal position of the object from at least one ratio of thecurrents through the partial electrodes.
 5. The detector according toclaim 2, wherein the photo detector is a dye-sensitized solar cell. 6.The detector according to claim 2, wherein the first electrode at leastpartially is made of at least one transparent conductive oxide, andwherein the second electrode at least partially is made of anelectrically conductive polymer.
 7. The detector according to claim 1,wherein at least one of the transversal optical sensor and thelongitudinal optical sensor is a transparent optical sensor.
 8. Thedetector according to claim 1, wherein the transversal optical sensorand the longitudinal optical sensor are stacked along the optical axissuch that a light beam travelling along the optical axis both impingeson the transversal optical sensor and on the longitudinal opticalsensor.
 9. The detector according to claim 1, wherein the longitudinaloptical sensor comprises at least one dye-sensitized solar cell.
 10. Thedetector according to claim 9, wherein the longitudinal optical sensorcomprises at least one first electrode, at least one n-semiconductingmetal oxide, at least one dye, at least one p-semiconducting organicmaterial, and at least one second electrode.
 11. The detector accordingto claim 10, wherein both the first electrode and the second electrodeare transparent.
 12. The detector according to claim 1, furthercomprising an evaluation device, wherein the evaluation device isdesigned to generate at least one item of information on a longitudinalposition of the object from at least one predefined relationship betweena geometry of the illumination and a relative positioning of the objectwith respect to the detector.
 13. The detector according to claim 1,further comprising at least one illumination source.
 14. The detectoraccording to claim 1, wherein the detector has a plurality oflongitudinal optical sensors, wherein the longitudinal optical sensorsare stacked.
 15. The detector according to claim 14, further comprisingan evaluation device, wherein the longitudinal optical sensors arearranged such that a light beam from the object illuminates alllongitudinal optical sensors, wherein at least one longitudinal sensorsignal is affected by each longitudinal optical sensor, wherein theevaluation device is adapted to normalize the longitudinal sensorsignals and to generate the information on the longitudinal position ofthe object independent from an intensity of the light beam.
 16. Thedetector according to claim 14, wherein a last longitudinal opticalsensor is arranged in a manner that the light beam illuminates all otherlongitudinal optical sensors apart from the last longitudinal opticalsensor, until the light beam impinges on the last longitudinal opticalsensor, wherein the last longitudinal optical sensor is intransparentwith respect to the light beam.
 17. The detector according to claim 14,wherein the stack of at least two optical sensors is partially or fullyimmersed in an oil, in a liquid and/or in a solid material.
 18. Thedetector according to claim 1, wherein the at least one transversaloptical sensor and/or the at least one longitudinal optical sensor usesat least two different transparent substrates.
 19. The detectoraccording to claim 1, wherein the detector further comprises an imagingdevice.
 20. The detector according to claim 1, wherein the detectorfurther comprises an optically sensitive element.
 21. The detectoraccording to claim 20, wherein the optically sensitive element comprisesa color wheel, a color drum, and/or a filter wheel using an ellipticallypolarizing filter.
 22. The detector according to claim 1, furthercomprising an evaluation device, wherein the evaluation device isadapted to generate the at least one item of information on thelongitudinal position of the object by determining a diameter of thelight beam from the at least one longitudinal sensor signal.
 23. Thedetector according to claim 22, wherein the evaluation device is adaptedto compare the diameter of the light beam with known beam properties ofthe light beam in order to determine the at least one item ofinformation on the longitudinal position of the object.
 24. The detectoraccording to claim 1, wherein the longitudinal optical sensor isfurthermore designed in such a way that the longitudinal sensor signal,given the same total power of the illumination, is dependent on amodulation frequency of a modulation of the illumination.
 25. Ahuman-machine interface comprising the detector according to claim 1,wherein the human-machine interface is designed to generate at least oneitem of geometrical information of the user by means of the detectorwherein the human-machine interface is designed to assign to thegeometrical information at least one item of information.
 26. Anentertainment device suitable for carrying out at least oneentertainment function, wherein the entertainment device comprises thehuman-machine interface according to claim 25, wherein the entertainmentdevice is designed to enable at least one item of information to beinput by a player by means of the human-machine interface, wherein theentertainment device is designed to vary the entertainment function inaccordance with the information.
 27. A tracking system suitable fortracking the position of at least one movable object, the trackingsystem comprising the detector according to claim 1, the tracking systemfurther comprising a track controller, wherein the track controller isadapted to track a series of positions of the object, each positioncomprising at least one item of information on a transversal position ofthe object at a specific point in time and at least one item ofinformation on a longitudinal position of the object at a specific pointin time.
 28. A camera comprising the detector according to claim
 1. 29.The detector according to claim 1, further comprising an evaluationdevice, wherein the evaluation device is designed to generate at leastone item of information on a transversal position of the object byevaluating the transversal sensor signal and to generate at least oneitem of information on a longitudinal position of the object byevaluating the longitudinal sensor signal.
 30. The detector according toclaim 1, wherein said detector is part of a scanner for scanning anenvironment.
 31. A method for scanning an environment, wherein at leastone transversal optical sensor of a detector is used, wherein thetransversal optical sensor determines a transversal position of at leastone light beam traveling from the environment to the detector, thetransversal position being a position in at least one dimensionperpendicular to an optical axis of the detector, wherein thetransversal optical sensor affects at least one transversal sensorsignal; and wherein at least one longitudinal optical sensor of thedetector is used, wherein the longitudinal optical sensor has at leastone sensor region, wherein the longitudinal optical sensor generates atleast one longitudinal sensor signal in a manner dependent on anillumination of the sensor region by the light beam, wherein thelongitudinal sensor signal, given the same total power of theillumination, is dependent on a beam cross-section of the light beam inthe sensor region.